Jigsaw slices up competition on North American box office

Jigsaw has scared its way to the top of the North American box office in its opening weekend (27-29Oct17).
The film, which is the eighth instalment in the horror franchise, has earned $16.2 million (£12.3 million) during the weekend before Halloween (31Oct17). However, it has the lowest opening for a number one movie for 2017 and second-lowest in the franchise behind 2009’s Saw VI, which earned $14.1 million (£10.7 million).
Tyler Perry’s Boo! 2 A Madea Halloween comes in second with $10 million (£7.6 million), while Gerard Butler’s Geostorm has taken third place with $5.6 million (£4.3 million).
Happy Death Day and Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling’s Blade Runner 2049 round out the top five with $4 million (£3 million) and $3.9 million (£2.9 million), respectively.
The North American box office is expected to pick back up next week (begs30Oct17) when Thor: Ragnarok is released on Friday (03Nov17). The movie is projected to earn $125 million (£95.2 million) and has already grossed $107.6 million (£82 million) overseas.
“It’s been another really slow weekend for a month of October that has seen a ton of product with both big and small released into theaters with a seemingly indifferent (and distracted) audience that is clearly waiting for the Holiday blockbuster and Oscar season to motivate them toward the multiples,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore, says. “The (baseball) World Series and Stranger Things certainly were major small screen distractions over one of the lowest grossing weekends of the year thus far.”