Friday’s box office numbers have come out, and, in a surprise, it looks like TP’s Madea’s Big Happy Family may not claim the no.1 position this weekend, as everyone (even S & A) expected.

It looks like the animated film Rio will still definitely grab the no.1 slot as it did last week, with perhaps even bigger totals than last week; but Madea will come in second with $25-$26 million and Water for Elelphants coming up in at third place.

Now sure, $26 million ain’t bad at all. Most films wish they could open to numbers like that. But keep in mind that previous Madea films have always opened up with much higher numbers, usually over $30-$40 million. And with his low production costs, the film will still no doubt make money of course. But is the Madea brand slipping? (One can only hope…)

And since Perry has signed on to make more Madea films, one can assume that those films will make even less than their precessors. Is it any wonder why he’s moving away to play Alex Cross, and show the world his long supressed and (obviously very well hidden) hard core masculinty?

You tell us..