Saw 3D Scares Up Top Spot Over Halloween Weekend

When Halloween falls on a weekend, the box office is notoriously slow as people go to Halloween parties instead of the movies.  2010 is no exception.

Saw 3D, the seventh and supposedly final movie in the extremely profitable 'Saw' franchise from Lion's Gate Films opened in the top spot over a slow Halloween weekend with $22.5 million.  This is an improvement over the Saw VI, the previous film in the series, but not an improvement in attendance as the higher gross is driven by premium-priced 3D tickets.  Adding in Thursday's sneak preview grosses, Saw 3D has earned $24.2 million so far.  Saw 3D is the most expensive movie in the franchise to produce, costing an estimated $20 million to produce.

In second place, last weekend's number one film, Paranormal Activity 2 fell 59.4% in the face of stiff competition from Saw 3D and the Halloween weekend.  The film brought in another $16.5 million, for a total gross of $65.7 million to date.  With an incredibly modest $3 million budget, and very little money spent on a viral marketing campaign, Paranormal Activity 2 is already well in the black for distributor Paramount Pictures.

Third place went to Red, which fell 28.1% in its third weekend  and grossed $10.8 million.  The film is proving to have legs with its target audience, grossing $58.9 million against a $58 million gross.  While Red isn't going to break any box office records, it is having a respectable showing and should make back its money once international and home video receipts are taken into consideration.

Jackass 3D continued its free-fall, dropping another 60% in its third weekend to $8.4 million for a fourth place finish.  With $101.5 million to date, the third film in the franchise has easily outgrossed the prior two films in the series, and is turning a handsome profit against its $20 million production budget.

Finally, the fifth spot on the box office chart goes to Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, which doesn't seem to be connecting with audiences as well as Warner Brothers was hoping.  The film dropped 47% in its second weekend of wide release, bringing in an additional $6.3 million for $22 million to date.  Measured against a $50 million production budget, Hereafter will likely remain in the red until well after its home video release.