Saw III ripped out of the starting gate over the weekend, setting a record for the highest Halloween debut ever with over $34 million at the box office. With the third installment, the franchise has consistently outperformed it's previous incarnations, and is a great performer for Lionsgate Entertainment, who claims that "Saw III" was produced for under $10 million dollars. Hoping to maintain the momentum, they've already announced that "Saw IV" will also debut next year at Halloween.
Martin Scorcese's "The Departed" maintained it's second place hold, and with a total gross of over $91 million dollars in it's fourth week, it will soon become Scorcese's highest grossing film ever after "The Aviator".
"The Prestige" remained strong with $9.6 million after dropping into third place from first last week, but now has a total take of $28.9 million after two weeks. Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" looks to be dropping rapidly down the charts, after dividing critics, and now has a total take of almost $20 million after two weeks.
The only other new release, "Catch a Fire", struggled in 12th place, at around $2 million in earnings.
Last weekend's full top 10 was as follows:
1) Saw III - $34.3 million
2) The Departed - $9.8 million
3) The Prestige - $9.6 million
4) Flags of Our Fathers - $6.4 million
5) Open Season - $6.1 million
6) Flicka - $5 million
7) Man of the Year - $4.7 million
8) The Grudge 2 - $3.3 million
9) Marie Antoinette - $2.9 million
10) Running With Scissors - $2.6 million
Posters for all of the above mentioned movies are available by clicking on the links.
