Apocalypto set to have bigger opening weekend than Braveheart!

Deadline Hollywood reports: Call it a Hollywood shocker: Mel's Apocalypto will have a bigger weekend opening than his Braveheart. Despite scandal, an R-rating, subtitles because of an ancient dialect, no stars, and direct competition from movieland AAA-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, Gibson's Mayan epic won Friday's matinees and evenings, I'm told. At first, box office gurus were warning me that the weekend victor among very competitive films all opening against each other would be too close to call. But now I've learned it looks certain that Disney's Apocalypto will win the weekend -- bearing out my reporting back on December 1st that early tracking showed Mel's movie (playing in 2,465 theaters) would edge ahead. I'm told Mel's movie took in $4.9 million Friday, with the best per screen average of the top movies at $1,988, for what's expected to be at least a $12 mil, and possibly a $14 mil, weekend total. That easily beats Mel's Braveheart... [Read more.] More statistics on Friday's opening box office take here at BoxOfficeMojo.