WEEKEND BOX-OFFICE
Saw
3D opens better than Saw VI…
Before we break down all of
this week’s box-office results, let’s focus in on the SAW series
first, since “apparently” this is the “final
one” (wink, wink). Let’s see how each flick fared since the
original was released back in 2004…
| Title | Opening weekend | Final Gross |
| SAW | $18M | $55M |
| SAW II | $32M | $87M |
| SAW III | $34M | $80M |
| SAW IV | $32M | $63M |
| SAW V | $30M | $57M |
| SAW VI | $14M | $28M |
| SAW 3D | $23M | ?? |
As you can see, last year’s SAW
VI appeared to be the “final nail” in the SAW
cash-cow money-train, but with the upswing in this year’s opening,
do you think the SAW films will continue anyway? I guess we’ll
find out this week as Lionsgate will either “surprise
us” with an announcement of an 8th installment in the series or
“surprise us” by not announcing a follow-up. I
personally think it’s time to “put a fork in it” at this
point. Or bring back the original team of Wan/Whannell and ask
those dudes to come up with a more original way to proceed with
the franchise… (after giving them bags of money, of course)
It’s interesting to note that
despite a massive opening of $41M last weekend, PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY 2 had the biggest drop this weekend (-60%) despite the
fact that it was Halloween weekend. Kinda strange, if you ask me.
JACKASS 3D also dropped 60% of its audience this weekend, but
that’s not a “horror movie” per se (although some might
disagree with that). I think it’s safe to say that there will
definitely be a 4th installment of the JACKASS series, as the
third one just surpassed the $100M mark for the first time.
Methinks it’s time for Paramount to pay these boys a lot more
money for their misadventures as well, as this last film
apparently only cost $20M to make!
The other two films that caught
my eye this weekend were RED and THE TOWN. RED is still hanging on
to 3rd place despite being released three weeks ago. The film has
already grossed close to $60M and had one of the smallest drops in
the top 10 this week (-28%). Ben Affleck’s movie amazes me because
it’s been in the top 10 for seven weeks running now and just keeps
on bringing in more and more money. It doesn’t appear as though it
will top the $100M mark, but it should break the $90M and has
definitely solidified Affleck as a “major player” in
Hollywood (again). Good shit, dude!
The two films to get knocked
out of the top 10 this week (SAW 3D wasn’t the only new film to
crack the top 10 this week, Hilary Swank’s CONVICTION also managed
to slip in there, despite only being released in about 530
theaters) was the Zack Snyder “owl movie” which grossed
$53M so far, and EASY A which much like THE TOWN, managed to hang
around the top 10 for a surprising six weeks in a row (it has
grossed $56M so far, but only cost $8M).
Next week sees the release of 3
pretty big new releases including the polarizing figure of Zach
Galifianakis (although you gotta respect him
pulling out a joint on the Bill Maher show on Friday) and Iron
Man himself Robert Downey Jr. starring in DUE
DATE, the voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Tina Fey
joining forces for the animated wonder called MEGAMIND
and the man with the pulse of the African-American community (we always
discount his films but he always continues to pull in big
numbers) Tyler Perry with his latest entitled FOR
COLORED GIRLS. Tough choices, each with their own distinctive
target audience. So which film do you think will be the #1 movie
next weekend? VOTE
NOW!!!
| 1. Saw 3D | $ 22.5 Million | |
| 2. Paranormal Activity 2
| $ 16.5 Million | $ 65.6 Million |
| 3. Red | $ 10.8 Million | $ 58.9 Million |
| 4. Jackass 3D | $ 8.4 Million | $ 101.6 Million |
| 5. Hereafter | $ 6.3 Million | $ 22.2 Million |
| 6. Secretariat | $ 5.1 Million | $ 44.8 Million |
| 7. The Social Network | $ 4.7 Million | $ 79.7 Million |
| 8. Life as We Know It | $ 4 Million | $ 43.5 Million |
| 9. The Town | $ 1.9 Million | $ 87.6 Million |
| 10. Conviction | $ 1.8 Million | $ 2.4 Million |