Hot Trends: Box Office: 'Ender's Game' Off to Solid Start Friday, Could Near $30 Million

epic Ender's Game is off to a pleasing start at the North American box office, where it could gross $9 million on Friday for a weekend gross in the $25 million to $30 million range. That includes $1.4 million in Thursday night earnings. PHOTOS: 'Ender's Game' Premiere Invades Hollywood With Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield

Ender's Game, a co-production between Summit Entertainment, Entertainment and Digital Domain, is the latest YA film property to attempt to establish a franchise. The action-adventure, costing $110 million to make, is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, whose anti-gay comments have riled many (though he has said Ender's Game isn't a YA property, it has been made widely available in schools).

Ender's Game is a sizeable gamble for , which financed much of the movie and dispatched sister company Sierra/Affinity to sell the movie internationally. Last weekend, Ender's Game debuted at a soft No. 5 in the . with just under $2 million, but the film could make up ground as it continues to roll out in additional foreign markets. PHOTOS: 25 of Fall's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Ender's Game,' 'Catching Fire,' 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and More

Outside of the Hunger Games and Twilight film franchises, YA film properties have struggled at the box office. This year, The Host, Beautiful Creatures and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones all flopped.

The other two new nationwide entries this weekend are Relativity Media and Reel FX's animated 3D Free Birds and CBS Films' sexagenarian comedy Last Vegas, starring , Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline as four friends in their who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. also stars.

Free Birds, costing $55 million to produce and marking Relativity's first foray into the animation business, is projected to open in the $16 million to $19 million range, based on early Friday numbers. The movie -- about a pair of turkeys who travel back in time to prevent their kind from becoming the traditional holiday meal -- should benefit from being the only new family entry in the market (Entertainment One is distributing in Canada). The voice cast is led by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler .

Last Vegas is aiming to open in the $14 million to $15 million range. Older moviegoers rarely rush to see a film on its opening weekend. CBS Films believes Last Vegas will serve as strong counterprogramming throughout the month. In August 2012, Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, opened to a modest $14.7 million on its way to earning $63.5 million domestically and a hearty $114.3 million globally.