According to The Hollywood Reporter, taking full advantage of the spirit of Halloween weekend, Sony's The Grudge continued to impress and astound as the horror-thriller dipped a relatively mild 43% from its debut and collected an estimated $22.4 million to take first place. The Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer, which is rated PG-13 and opened to an outstanding $39.1 million the previous weekend, has scared up an estimated $71.3 million in 10 days.

Heading into the weekend, Universal's highly praised Ray, the Ray Charles biopic starring Jamie Foxx, was expected by many in the industry to take the top slot. Even though Ray opened with a solid estimate of $20.1 million, which was at the high end of expectations, the unusually strong hold by The Grudge kept Ray at bay in the second spot but still shining brightly nonetheless.

The Taylor Hackford-directed Ray, a PG-13 rated film co-starring Kerry Washington and Regina King, was released in 2,006 venues, the lowest theater count of the top nine films this weekend. Consequently Ray racked up the highest per-theater average by far of that group with a considerable $10,020. Lions Gate's Saw had an impressive debut this weekend as well, as the low-budget horror film, which reportedly cost less than $2 million, opened in the third spot with an estimated $17.4 million -- far higher than the $8 million-to-$10 million range anticipated.

Dont't forget to also check out: The Grudge

The Grudge was released October 22nd, 2004 and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea DuVall, KaDee Strickland, Grace Zabriskie, Bill Pullman, Rosa Blasi. The film is directed by Takashi Shimizu.