On Friday, The Smurfs rustled up slightly more dollars than Cowboys & Aliens, upsetting pre-weekend tracking that indicated Cowboys would rope in more. Captain America: The First Avenger retreated to third, the finalHarry Potter hit another milestone, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. rounded out the Top Five in its debut. The Smurfs gathered an estimated $13.3 million on approximately 5,300 screens at 3,395 locations, which was greater than G-Force's $11.5 million on the same Friday in 2009. 2,042 of Smurfs' locations showed the movie in 3D, accounting for around 48 percent of business. G-Force had a 56 percent 3D share (from just 1,604 locations out of a 3,697 total), which means Smurfs likely sold more tickets as well. Smurfs was directed by talking critter specialistRaja Gosnell, and its opening day rated higher thanBeverly Hills Chihuahua and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed but far behind the first Scooby-Doo among his other movies. Don't count out Cowboys & Aliens just yet. With an estimated $13 million on nearly 5,500 screens at 3,750 locations, it was so close to The Smurfs on Friday that it could still pull out a weekend win. Claiming a first-place opening, though, would only slightly mitigate an otherwise disappointing gross for a movie that was trying desperately to be a blockbuster. Cowboys's Friday start was effectively on par with Super 8 ($13 million including Thursday previews) and behind Battle: Los Angeles($13.4 million) and District 9 ($14.2 million). If Smurfs and Cowboys follow the trajectories of past similar movies, their opening weekends would come in at around $36.5 million and $34.5 million, respectively. Down 69 percent from last Friday, Captain America: The First Avenger took a typical hit, earning an estimated $7.9 million. Though Thor had a higher-grossing second Friday ($9.1 million), Captain maintained its gross-to-date lead over the summer's other superhero movies, rising to $99.7 million in eight days. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 crossed the $300 million mark, and it surpassed Half-Blood Prince to become the second highest-grossing Potter movie yet (and it's on track to topping Sorcerer's Stone's $317.6 million by the end of the weekend). The final Potter did drop considerably from last Friday (55 percent), though, coming in at an estimated $6.625 million for a $303.2 million tally in 15 days. Meanwhile, Crazy, Stupid, Love. bagged an estimated $6.6 million on around 3,300 screens at 3,020 locations.Friday Report: 'Smurfs' & 'Cowboys' Neck-and-Neck
