For the first time in six years a Saw film hasn't opened at number one. Last week's third place film Paranormal Activity jumped up two spots and claimed the top spot at the box office this weekend, grabbing another $22 million dollars and bringing its total up to a heady $62.4 million. How much of a return is Paranormal Activity giving for its investors and Paramount Pictures, the studio that now stands to make an ungodly amount of profit from this micro-budgeted shocker?
And is the reign of Saw nearing its end? Saw VI opened in second spot which isn't a terrible place at all, but like I mentioned above, it's not #1 in its opening week. A gulf of $7 million dollars stands between Paranormal Activity and Saw VI (which opened $14.8 on a thousand more screens than PA.) Perhaps the shock value of the Saw franchise has finally started to wear off on audiences. Maybe Jigsaw has become too familiar now to the Halloween season and the franchise needs a break. Fat chance of that happening with Saw VII already greenlit and in development.
Last week's champ was Where the Wild Things Are. In week number two the Warner Bros. fantasy has dropped two spots and now has $53m total to its account. In fourth spot is Law Abiding Citizen ($12.7 new, $40.3 total), down two spots as well from last week. Fifth place is Couples Retreat ($11m new, $78m total.) In sixth place is Astro Boy, the $65 million dollar animated adaptation of the classic Japanese manga/anime character. With an opening of just $7 million dollars Summit Entertainment better pray that Astro Boy plays huge in Japan 'cuz it ain't happening here.
In seventh spot is The Stepfather remake with another $6.5m (total $20.3m.) Eighth place is held by another new film with a disappointing showing, Universal's Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. While Uni only spent $40 million on Cirque's budget it'll have an easier time trying to break even than Astro Boy, and it might even make a little bit once it hits home video.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is finally headed out of the top ten ($5.6m new, $115m total) along with Zombieland ($4.3m new, $67.3m total.) Both films have performed very well for their owner, Sony Pictures, and will continue to make extra moolah once they arrive on home vid.
It's pretty slim for next week's openings as the major studios are taking a breather and letting their horror programming play out for Halloween weekend. The only one I'm really curious to see the performance results of is Ti West's The House of the Devil, a throwback to the 1970s slasher/occultist style of horror. It's not getting a big release so I doubt it will make a dent in the box office. Saw VI and Paranormal Activity will likely find more eyeballs and maybe even swap audiences, with the people that have seen one checking out the other.
Stay spooky my friends and enjoy your upcoming Halloween festivities.
Apparently one of the original endings had Katie returning to the room with a knife after the ending we got and slitting her throat. That's a downer of an ending, and considering how bloodless the rest of the film was, could either have been really shocking or so unexpected as to take people out of the film.
I really hope House of the Devil comes here, I wanna see it!
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Jakester
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Posted: 15 years 22 weeks ago
As we discussed in the forums, House of the Devil looks really cool. I saw, er...watched a few days ago, and found that it really does live up to the hype. The let you know going in, the better off you'll be.
Also, I'm curious to see what other endings they shot. I think there are 5 or so. The one in theatrical release is what Spielberg suggested, and I like it well enough, but think I'd have preferred the original.