The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.
For the past two years, every time October comes to a close, the box office report nearly wrote itself thanks to a certain unstoppable horror franchise, and this year was no exception as the fourth chapter Saw IV (Lionsgate) opened with slightly less than the last chapter, an estimated $32.1 million, after making nearly the same amount as its predecessor on Friday. It averaged an impressive $10k per theatre to become the 6th highest opening movie for the month of October and amongst the top 5 horror sequels.
Opening in a strong second was Peter Hedges' Dan in Real Life (Touchstone), starring Steve Carell, with an estimated $12 million, proving that strong and smart counter-programming to the established horror franchise could do well among the audiences neglected by the gory R-rated option.
With heavy competition for the horror fans, the graphic novel inspired vampire flick 30 Days of Night (Sony) dropped 57% to third place with approximately $6.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its total to $27.3 million.
Disney's hugely successful family film The Game Plan, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, took its total gross to $77 million with a fifth weekend take of $6.3 million, dropping another notch to #4.
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (Lionsgate) took a much bigger plunge in its third weekend, dropping 53% to round off the Top 5 with $5.7 million and a total gross of $47.3 million. That puts it well on its way to pass Perry's first film Diary of a Mad Black Woman though it will likely end up making less than its follow-up Madea's Family Reunion.
Tony Gilroy's corporate thriller Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.), starring George Clooney, continues to do very well, as it experienced a minor 25% drop to add another $5 million to bring its gross to $28.8 million.
Dropping one notch to 6th place, Ben Affleck's own directorial debut Gone Baby Gone (Miramax) made $3.9 million in its second weekend with a total gross of $11.3 million, while the sports comedy The Comebacks (Fox Atomic) made $3.4 million over the weekend for a total of $10 million.
Wes Anderson's fifth film The Darjeeling Limited (Fox Searchlight) expanded nationwide into 698 theatres, but wound up just outside the Top 12 with $1.7 million and $6.1 million total.
In limited release, Alejandro Monteverde's festival fave Bella (Roadside Attractions) capitalized on the popularity of Mexican soap star Eduardo Verastegui to bring in an impressive $1.3 million in 165 theatres, an average of over $8k per theatre.
Opening in two New York theatres, Sidney Lumet's star-studded crime-drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead had a solid opening of $73.5 thousand, with plans to expand into 50 theatres in top markets next weekend.
Alison Eastwood's debut drama Rails & Ties (Warner Bros), starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden, didn't fare as well, grossing just $10,000 in 5 theatres in New York, L.A and Toronto, which means it won't be expanding much further. Few of the other limited releases fared much better with the very different documentaries Mr. Untouchable (Magnolia) and Jonathan Demme's Jimmy Carter Man of Plains (Sony Classics) averaging less than $2k per theatre each. Surprisingly, the musical doc Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (The Weinstein Company) grossed more than the latter in just a single New York theatre.
Where in the past few weeks, the box office was down from the same weekend last year, Saw IV helped this weekend to lessen the gap with the Top 10 making just slightly less than last year based on Sunday estimates.
