Contraband On Target for #1 at Box Office

BOX OFFICE

(Universal)

Contraband, the new Mark Wahlberg crime movie, is expected to win the box office for the extended Martin Luther King Day Weekend.

With an estimated $30 million haul, Contraband would edge Beauty and the Beast 3D, the Disney re-release, which is tracking toward $26 million for its own opening.

Meanwhile, the Queen Latifah-Dolly Parton release Joyful Noise is battling it out with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol for third place.

Both movies are on pace to hit $14.5 million for the long weekend.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows ($10 million) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ($9 million) are both expected to finish ahead of last week’s champ, The Devil Inside, which should slip to about $8.5 million.

The Matt Damon family film We Bought a Zoo is targeting a $7 million weekend, just ahead of War Horse ($6.5 million) and The Iron Lady ($6.5 million).

Gossip Cop will have updates.

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