Box office: One Direction bound for the top this weekend

On a slow weekend at the box office, the voice of the tween is rising above all others.

Powered by a surging, young girl fanbase, the 3-D concert documentary “One Direction: This Is Us” shot to the top of the box-office rankings going into the holiday weekend with an estimated $8.9 million in ticket sales on Friday. The film about the wildly popular British boy band thus far is meeting expectations for the weekend after prerelease audience surveys forecast a four-day take of $22 million.

In more good news for the film’s studio, TriStar, “One Direction: This Is Us” earned an A grade from the market research firm CinemaScore, which is considered a reliable indicator of audience satisfaction.

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By contrast, the action film “Getaway,” starring Ethan Hawke and former tween star Selena Gomez, received a C+ from CinemaScore, a rating that was reflected in a dismal opening-night take of an estimated $1.4 million on Friday. At that pace, the film will debut outside of the top five for the weekend.

Lee Daniels’ “The Butler,” a decidedly more adult-focused civil rights drama, fell out of the No. 1 position for the first time since its mid-August opening with an estimated $3.6 million. The film is expected to add another $15 million to its $55 million in earnings thus far.

The comedy “We’re the Millers” crossed the $100-million mark with an estimated $3.1 million on Friday, followed by Disney’s “Planes” with $1.7 million and the Matt Damon-led sci-fi film “Elysium,” which is on track to close out the top five with $1.5 million.

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Twitter: @chrisbarton