Weekend box-office: Halloween scares push 'Saw III' to #1

Come on folks, its Halloween. Would you expect any other film to be #1 at the box-office the weekend before Halloween- than a major release horror flick?

Saw III pulled in a nice $34.3 million from 4,700 screens at 3,167 theaters in its first week of release. ‘Saw II’ on the other hand, took in $31.7 million from 3,879 screens at 2,949 theaters during the same period last year. Saw II wound up with $87 million.‘Saw III’ exit polls showed that 69 percent of the audience were under 25 years of age and 51 percent male.

This was good news for Lionsgate who has turned the franchise into an annual Halloween ritual. ‘Saw’ which opened two years ago on Halloween weekend took in $18.3 million.

The movies all follow the escapades of psycho killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) who stages bloody games to test his victims. ‘Saw III’ was produced for under $10 million.Lionsgate plans to release ‘Saw IV’ over Halloween weekend 2007.The Associated Press quotes Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, saying, “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. Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Departed’ came in second place for the third straight week however, box-office dropped 27 percent from the previous week, taking in this weekend $9.8 million from 2,951 locations.The Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson starrer has taken in $91.1 million in its four week release.In third place at 2,281 locations was Buena Vista’s prestidigitation thriller ‘The Prestige’ bringing in $9.6 million, down 35 percent from the previous week. In its second week of release ‘The Prestige’ now has a total cume of $28.8 million.Hyped by distrib Paramount Pictures as having the ability to play long time after a modest start – like director Clint Eastwood’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Mystic River’ – Eastwood’s ‘Flags of Our Fathers,’ suffered a 38 percent loss despite a 17 percent boost in theaters, generating an estimated $6.4 million (2,140 locations) for $19.9 million in 10 days.And in fifth place, in its fifth week of release, Sony’s ‘Open Season’ taking in $6.1 million from 3,059 locations for a total take to date of $77.4 million.Other limited openings this weekend faired so-so.Focus Features' political thriller ‘Catch a Fire’ didn’t catch fire, only picking up an estimated $2 million at 1,305 locations.The Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett starrer "Babel," grossed $365,801 from seven theaters. Distributor Paramount Vantage plans to expand ‘Babel’ to 35 theaters on Nov 3 and then nationwide in 1,200 theaters on Nov. 10.The controversial Dixie Chicks documentary ’Shut Up & Sing’ opened solidly in limited release, taking in $50,798 from four theaters.