Box office goes to 'Town' on Friday

Score one for the grownups at the box office on Friday.

Ben Affleck's crime thriller "The Town" beat most predictions by earning an estimated $8.4 million in ticket sales Friday (Sept. 17). That puts it on pace to earn in the neighborhood of $25 million for the weekend, a good bit above the $15 million-$20 million predicted by most forecasters.

The R-rated movie, which also stars Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively, was the beneficiary of strong reviews. It also marks the unofficial start of the fall movie season, when studios start rolling out their awards contenders and "serious" movies.

The box-office forecasts had the high-school comedy "Easy A" taking the top spot, but it came up a little short on Friday with an estimated $6.8 million. That still gives it a shot at making north of $15 million over its first three days, and considering it cost less than $10 million to make, that's a pretty good return.

The M. Night Shyamalan-produced "Devil" came in third on Friday, taking in a little under $5 million. Last weekend's winner, "Resident Evil: Afterlife" ($3 million), and the animated movie "Alpha & Omega" ($2.3 million) finished out the top five.

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Photo credit: Warner Bros.