As it did on Friday, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief will place second this weekend at the box office with a projected gross of $50 million for the four-day, double holiday weekend.

This gross is by far an over-performance for the Universal released movie, since it was expected to open more in the high $20 million range to possibly low $30 million numbers.

20th Century Fox is obviously trying to replicate the success that rival studio ,Warner Brothers, has seen with its adaptation of another Fantasy Adventure known as Harry Potter, which almost every one knows is one of the most successful movie franchises in history at the box office.

In fact, they even hired Chris Columbus to direct the movie, a director who has directed two Potter movies, including the very first one.

A $50 million opening is very good news for Fox, especially since most thought it wouldn't be a success, and additionally The Lighting Thief has a budget of $145 million, without including advertising or prints.

Now, it's a bit too soon to call the move a success, but if it holds up well in the coming days and weekends at the box office, as well as a good performance overseas, The Lighting Thief will be just that.

As always, Thanks for reading this box office blog, and please be sure to check back for our weekend box office report with all the latest numbers, and everything else movie related.

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Kevin McKidd: From 'Grey's' to the deep blue sea
'The actor plays a doctor on the popular ABC medical show, but is Poseidon in 'Percy Jackson.'

If you want to know what it's like to be a television star, walk down a Los Angeles sidewalk with Kevin McKidd, whom "Grey's Anatomy" fans instantly recognize as the tortured trauma surgeon Owen Hunt. If you want to know what it's like to be a movie star, listen to McKidd describe a solitary stroll he took on a New York street during the filming of "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief."

"There's a shot where I arrive in the city and walk up out of the ocean," says McKidd, who portrays Poseidon in the modern-day adventure with gods of Greek myth. "It was one of those moments as an actor where you say, 'Wow, I am making a big movie.' There was a huge crane for this one big, long shot of me and the city skyline as I'm walking toward the Empire State building. The preliminary work was, like, two or three weeks getting the lighting just right on all of these buildings."



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