Ice Age & Transformers Tie Up the 4th!

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

If today's Wimbledon Men's Finals wasn't exciting enough, the box office estimates for the Top 10 movies over 4th of July weekend included two dead heat ties, and for the first time ever, one of those was for first place! Over the last few months, we've seen a number of close calls for first place and even one weekend where first place changed between the Sunday estimates and Monday actuals, but this weekend, the studios couldn't agree which movie won, as both Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (20th Century Fox) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (DreamWorks) ended up with an estimated gross of $42.5 million for the three-day holiday weekend. Opening on Wednesday with $13.8 million in 4,038 conventional and digital 3D theaters, the "Ice Age" 3-quel was thought to be able to topple Michael Bay's own sequel, but on Friday, "Transformers" pulled slightly ahead then took a bigger plunge on the 4th of July proper, allowing "Ice Age" to catch up.

"Ice Age" took in an estimated $67.5 million in its first five days, which is just slightly less than the previous installment, Ice Age: the Meltdown grossed in its opening weekend. Meanwhile, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has grossed roughly $294 million in twelve days and will remain behind The Dark Knight in the race to $300 million, which it should cross tomorrow.

Chances are that the actual box office receipts will decide the clear winner of the weekend. It would be a big coup for "Ice Age" to take down Michael Bay, who has been responsible for two previous 4th of July blockbusters. Oddly, the two movies are also tied for the tenth spot in terms of the top grossers for the 4th of July weekend.

Meanwhile, Michael Mann's gangster flick Public Enemies (Universal), pitting Christian Bale against Johnny Depp, also opened on Wednesday with roughly $10 million, then continued to hold up with $26.7 million in 3,334 theaters over the holiday weekend, a respectable $7,850 per site and $41 million in its first five days.

With the smallest percentage drop in the Top 10, the Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds rom-com The Proposal (Disney/Touchstone) took fourth place with $12.8 million and a running total of $94 million, based on a reported production budget of $40 million. It once again remained ahead of Todd Phillips sleeper comedy hit The Hangover (Warner Bros.), which managed to crossed $200 million over the 4th of July weekend, adding another $10.4 million for fifth place. The latter is currently the ninth highest grossing R-rated movie ever and by next week, it should pass Wedding Crashers (also starring Bradley Cooper!) as the 2nd highest grossing R-rated comedy .

Disney•Pixar's animated-adventure Up reached its own milestone, adding another $6.6 million to its own gross to surpass The Incredibles as the 2nd highest grossing Pixar movie with a total of roughly $265 million.

In its second weekend, Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper (New Line/WB), starring Cameron Diaz, plummeted 58% to seventh place with $5.2 million and a total of $26 million, whilethe Sony remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, took eighth place with $2.5 million and a total of $58.5 million.

The other undetermined position of the weekend was for 9th place, as both Harold Ramis' comedy Year One (Sony) and Ben Stiller's comedy sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (20th Century Fox) were considered a tie with an estimated $2.1 million. NIght at the Museum is holding well with $168 million while Ramis' comedy continues to lose business, dropping 65% in its third weekend to end up with $38 million.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $153 million, up a meager 2% from the 4th of July weekend last year when Will Smith's superhero movie Hancock won the weekend with $62.6 million over WALL•E and Wanted.