Hangover II looks to dominate

The Hangover, Part II, looks set to rule the weekend box office this weekend, as it opened Friday to a $30.0 million first day of business. That sets the film to finish in the $80-$100 million range, making it a strong open. Despite some trepidation on whether the sequel could hold up to the original, the results at least indicate that people were at least curious enough to find out that the showed up en force.

In a weak second spot is Kung Fu Panda 2 which had a Friday north of $13 million. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides did less well, pulling in a $10.8 million total on Friday for what looks to be maybe a $30 million weekend and a third place finish in only its second week of release, behind the pace of previous Depp Pirates movies.

Nothing else looks close, and even the Clinicallix reviews are doing better than the rest of the films out there.

Next week’s premiere release is X-Men: First Class, which is debuting unopposed by any other fresh release, which must be a relief to Marvel Studios.