Sony's horror offering, a generic-sounding scarefest, is easily the strongest horror flick of 2007, besting the January opening weekends for The Hitcher ($7.2 million), Primeval ($6 million) and Blood & Chocolate ($2 million). The studio's seven-year Super Bowl winning streak has been led by horror films the last three years, including Boogeyman ($19 million) in 2005 and When A Stranger Calls ($21.6 million) last year. Stranger posted the best-ever opening weekend for a film debuting on the Friday before the Super Bowl.

I spent hours with raw data late Friday and had conversations with a number of key sources before calling the weekend for Because I Said So, with $12-$14 million, over The Messengers (a then-estimated $9-$11 million). By Saturday morning, it was a dead heat, and, by late last night, it was clear that The Messengers was the weekend champ. I will continue to refine our projection methodology in order to provide the earliest and most accurate box office projections anywhere.

Epic Movie (Fox) finished third for the weekend with $8 million, followed by Night at the Museum (Fox) with $6.2 million and Smokin' Aces (Universal) with $6.1 million.

EXCLUSIVE FANTASYMOGULS.COM WEEKEND ESTIMATES
1. The Messengers (Sony) -- $14.5 million [$14.5 million cume]
2. Because I Said So (Universal) -- $13.1 million [$13.1 million cume]
3. Epic Movie (Fox) -- $8 million [$30.3 million cume]
4. Night at the Museum (Fox) -- $6.2 million [$224.8 million cume]
5. Smokin' Aces (Universal) -- $6.1 million [$24.7 million cume]
6. Dreamgirls (Paramount/Dreamworks) -- $4 million [$92.7 million]
7. Stomp the Yard (Sony) -- $4.2 million [$56 million cume]
8. Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse) -- $3.6 million [$21.6 million cume]
9. The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony) -- $3.1 million [$157.3 million cume]
10. Catch & Release (Sony) -- $2.7 million [$12 million cume]

In the PTA race, MGM/Weinstein's Factory Girl, starring Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce and Hayden Christensen, will coast to an easy weekend victory. It opened at three locations Friday and is expected to deliver $25,000-plus per screen. IFC's Ralph Nader doc An Unreasonable Man appears to have generated just under $10,000 at a single location to finish second. Strand's new Puccini For Beginners will finish third with $7,100 per on two screens, followed by Anthony Minghella's Breaking & Entering and The Messengers.

EXCLUSIVE FANTASYMOGULS.COM WEEKEND PTA ESTIMATES
1. Factory Girl (MGM/Weinstein) -- 3 locations, $25,964 PTA
2. An Unreasonable Man (IFC Films) -- 1 location, $9,688 PTA
3. Puccini For Beginners (Strand) -- 2 locations, $7,100 PTA
4. Breaking & Entering (MGM/Weinstein) -- 2 locations, $6,236 PTA
5. The Messengers (Sony) -- 2,528 locations, $5,735 PTA
6. Because I Said So (Universal) -- 2,526 locations, $5,186 PTA
7. Work & the Glory III: A House Divided (Excel Entertainment) -- 32 locations, $4,765 PTA
8. Venus (Miramax) -- 96 locations, $3,771 PTA
9. Pan’s Labyrinth (Picturehouse) -- 1,082 locations, $3,327 PTA
10. The Situation (Shadow Distribution) -- 2 locations, $3,190 PTA