Jigsaw may be dead, but that didn't stop him from conquering the Halloween box office for the third straight year in a row. The madman's fourth entry in the Saw franchise saw a hefty $32 million opening. Not a bad take by any means, yet the dollar amount was slightly off from last year's Saw III which nabbed $33 million over the course of its debut weekend. Still, Saw IV fared better than Saw II's premier take of $31 million. I think it all evens out rather nicely in the long run. This $32 million take should guarantee that Saw V and VI are fast-tracked into production. Can the upcoming strike be the one foe capable of defeating Jigsaw? That just might be the case. We'll have to wait and see.
Dan in Real Life proved to be a nice bit of counter programming, bringing in $12 million to take the second spot on the box office charts. This Disney charmer has won over critics and audiences alike, once again proving that Steve Carell is a bankable name. And it was nice to have some family fare around the blooded splattered scene at the metroplex this weekend.
The rest of the remaining top five found themselves in a tight race. The horror-themed 30 Days of Night managed to stick around, even though it only made a paltry $6.7 million, putting it in third place. No doubt the vampires helped insure its spot on the list, what, with it being Halloween weekend and all. The Rock's The Game Plan is still pleasing audiences nationwide for its fifth week in release. The film nabbed $6.2 million to land in fourth place. Hot on its trail was the very popular adult comedy Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? which is proving to have some staying power with $5.7 million. It wound up in fifth place. It has made $47 million to date.
A couple of Arthouse hits heated up the indie scene this weekend. Alejandro Monteverde's Bella didn't fare so poorly for a Spanish language film. It held the number seventeen spot with $1,324,000 in 165 theaters. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead took in a whopping $73,500 on just two screens. While the Nicky Barnes documentary from Damon Dash entitled Mr. Untouchable made $50,000 on 25 screens.
Next week, Jigsaw doesn't stand a chance. Two heavy hitters are going to come out swinging at him, most likely knocking him down to the third or fourth place on the box office list. First, we have Ridley Scott with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in American Gangster. Then we have Jerry Seinfeld with his first foray into the world of animation Bee Movie. The next couple of weeks are going to be exciting to say the least.
Lionsgate Planning Saw 4 Release Next Halloween Monday, October 30th, 2006 - "It's the biggest no-brainer of the century to put these movies out on Halloween weekend and wait for the money to roll in.."
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