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Eddie Murphy- pictured with Yara Shahidi in Imagine That- is set to finish outside the box office top five this weekend. (picture courtesy of AP/Paramount/Bruce McBroom) 

Some hitmaking film veterans enter the box office sweepstakes this weekend, though none will overtake the one-two punch of The Hangover and Up.

Eddie Murphy’s Imagine That looks set to join the list of Murphy duds such as Vampire in Brooklyn, Holy Man, The Adventures of Pluto Nash and last year’s Meet Dave. Based on Friday’s lackluster $1.825 million opening, the Paramount kiddie flick- playing in 3,008 multiplexes- probably will earn roughly $6 million this weekend. Such a showing would give the comedian back-to-back flops, his worst showing since the 2002 triad of Showtime, Pluto Nash and I Spy.

Granted, Murphy has scored a load more hits than duds in his 25-year film career- but two consecutive duds at the level of Meet Dave (which grossed a meager $11.8 million) and Imagine That is a career first. Heck, Murphy’s projected opening makes Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost film adaptation (which grossed $18.8 million last weekend) look like a mega-smash; expected to tumble more than 50 percent this weekend, Lost still is projected to outdo Murphy’s first weekend. Even the Night at the Museum sequel- in its fourth weekend- will outperform Murphy’s flick.

Murphy’s next film, A Thousand Words, does not sound like it has much promise to halt the dud streak, which means he must be anticipating Donkey’s return to the big screen next year more than the millions of Shrek fans around the globe.

Looking to fare much better than Murphy’s vehicle is the Denzel Washington-John Travolta hostage remake The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, which should place third for the weekend with around $25 million. That’s a solid opening from business at 3,000-plus theaters, but without promotion from Travolta (who still is mourning the death of his teenage son), the film possibly missed out on an even heftier debut. 

However, like Imagine That, Pelham has received mixed critical notices, which could impact its overall box office potential. With 32 reviews taken into account at www.metacritic.com, Pelham has an average score of 58 out of 100.

Last weekend’s startling success story, The Hangover,features no big-name marquee stars (the biggest being Heather Graham and Jeffrey Tambor), yet came out of nowhere to eclipse Disney/Pixar’s Up in a photo-finish race for the top spot. Warner Bros.’ Hangover grossed $44.98 million over its first three days, compared to Up’s $44.14 million; through close of business on Friday, Hangover’s cume stood at roughly $82.4 million, while Up stood at $165.5 million.

Box office pundits project Hangover and Up to finish the weekend at $32 million-$35 million and $28 million-$31 million, respectively. Incidentally, not only are both films commercial success stories, but both have fared well with critics. The Hangoverhas a Metacritic average of 73 (based on 30 reviews), while Up boasts an 88 average.

Such reception shows that every now and again, critical and commercial success do match up. However, as always, let’s not get accustomed to such a marvel- as has occurred plenty of times in the past, soon enough the critical darlings will be relinquishing the top spots of the box office charts to the next round of mixed-reviewed or critically maligned films…

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