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

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Sequel Delivers 'Paranormal' Results

Paranormal Activity 2, the follow-up to last year's micro-budgeted yet mega-grossing Paranormal Activity ($108 million in grosses against a reported $15,000 budget), had a huge opening weekend that catapulted it into profitability within hours of opening.  With a budget of approximately $3 million, the film was significantly more expensive than its predecessor.  The extra investment paid off, with an opening weekend worth $41.5 million.  Strong audience word-of-mouth will likely carry the film over the coming weeks, even in the face of strong competition from Saw 3D.

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Jackass 3D High Fives Into First Place for October 15-17 Weekend

A late update for the October 15-17 weekend, due to a family vacation.

Jackass 3D, the third in the venerable "reality" franchise starring Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of freak show contenders, opened in first place over the October 15 - 17th weekend.  The $50.3 million tally was significantly higher than the opening weekend results of the first two films in the series, showing that Knoxville's audience still has a healthy appetite for his particular brand of gross-out humor.

In an example of great counter-programming, second place went to Red, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren.  The $21.8 million opening was more than respectable for a film aimed at and heavily marketed toward an older demographic.

In third place was the previous two weekends' number one film, The Social Network.  The movie about the early days of online social networking web site Facebook added another $10.3 million in a 33% drop week-over-week.  The Social Network's cumulative tally after the weekend was at $62.4 million.

In fourth place was Secretariat with $9.6 million.  With a 27% drop week-over-week, the film now had a cumulative total gross of $27.3 million after two weeks.

Finally, fifth place went to Life As We Know It, grossing $8.9 million for $28.6 million to-date.