The actual numbers are in and, despite a lot of doom and gloom from box office prophesiers going in, it looks like Tron: Legacy may be a modest hit after all. Actual box office results for Friday are up on Box Office Mojo and Tron: Legacy came in as a clear number one, earning $18 million in its first day of release. That puts it on track to earn at least close to the $50 million mark this weekend, if people keep showing up to the theater to see it. The movie’s been selling well in pre-sales all week. Thursday Movietickets.com reported that 67% of all the tickets sold on their site this week were for Tron: Legacy.

IMAX may really be helping here too. Early reports indicate that Legacy is earning a significant portion of it’s box office take in IMAX theaters. The film is specifically designed to take full advantage of the larger format, and savvy audiences are responding. Some of the credit should probably go to higher 3D ticket prices too. Some theaters are charging as much as an astronomical $30 per ticket for showings of Legacy. The national average right now is around $15 - $17 dollars, around $2 higher than it was last year when Avatar was released.

The movie’s expected to do well overseas too, with major marketing pushes in Japan, particularly. They’ll need that international money to recoup the movie’s budget. Though the film itself reportedly only cost around $150 million, they spent nearly $120 million on the sequel’s massive, marketing campaign. That means they’ll need to make at least $270 million at the worldwide box office to break even. So far, Legacy’s off to a decent start.

Check back here on Cinema Blend Sunday for full weekend box office results.