Sony's Will Smith tentpole HANCOCK grossed $17.3 million on 3,965 runs on Wednesday, per VARIETY. That's less than experts had predicted, given Smith's star power, but it could have been hurt by less-than-good reviews (Rotten Tomatoes' meter is currently at 36 percent).
The film's cume is at $24.1M when its Tuesday night-preview gross ($6.8M) is factored in.
HANCOCK is still expected to do around $100M on the five-day (six counting Tuesday night) holiday weekend, but it will have to have a strong Friday-Sunday to make that mark.
In comparison, last July 4, TRANSFORMERS (Paramount) grossed $27.8M in its first full day out, going on to cume $155.4M over the holiday weekend.
