FIRST BOX OFFICE: Real Steel Wins By TKO

FRIDAY NOON: These are very early estimates. But DreamWorks/Disney’sReal Steel is dominating the North American box office today and looking ata mid-$20sM weekendif not higher. Hollywood will only be impressed if the result is mid-$30sM because this action pic has a family overlay and its budget was $110+M. By contrast,director and star George Clooney’s newcomerThe Ides Of March from his Smokehouse Pictures and Sony hadonly a $12.5M production budget after rebates. But this hard-to-sell R-rated adult political thriller co-starring Ryan Gosling is #2 today. It should be in low double digits for the weekend which is the modest showing that Hollywood expected. Alcon Entertainment/Warner Bros’Dolphin Tale will hold well again and likely come in around $9M by Sunday night. Same with Sony Pictures’ baseball picMoneyball in the $7.5M range and the studio’s faith-basedSherwood Pictures’ Courageous in the $5.5M range. Summit Entertainment’s cancer dramedy 50/50 should end up in the $5M range. Universal’s Dream House is not so dreamy with a pretty heftypercentage drop. And Disney’s Lion King 3D may be safely back in the cage after its Blu-Ray release. Full analysis tonight.