HOLLYWOOD - Moviegoers continued to get scared silly at the box office over the Halloween weekend.Sony's creepy remake of the Japanese horror film Ju-On, the Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer The Grudge, scared away the competition for the second week in a row, with $22.4 million, while the gore-fest Saw, about a serial killer who puts victims through grisly morality trials, debuted at No. 3 with $17.4 million.
Meanwhile, the stirring biopic Ray, starring Jamie Foxx as the incomparable Ray Charles, opened in second place with $20.1 million. "This is the most talked about performance of the year," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations told the Associated Press. "His performance even transcends the movie itself."
"Nobody wanted this movie, so as a result we are celebrating like you can't even believe," Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal told AP. "We expect a long life for this movie."
The controversial Nicole Kidman-starrer Birth, about a woman whose dead husband is reincarnated in a 10-year-old boy, barely missed the top 10 list, opened limitedly with $1.7 million.
This weekend, the Top 12 films grossed an estimated $99.7 million, up 12.96 percent from last weekend's $88.2 million take but down 16.61 percent from last year's draw of $119.5 million.
The top three films at the box office this time last year were: Dimension's R-rated Scary Movie 3, which stayed at No. 1 for the second week with $20 million in 3,505 theaters, averaging $5,711 per theater; Buena Vista's G-rated Brother Bear, which moved up to second place in its second week with $19.4 million in 3,030 theaters, averaging $6,404 per theater; and New Line's R-rated
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which dropped to third place in its second week with $10.8 million in 2,970 theaters, averaging $3,643 per theater.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES:
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The Grudge (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $22.4 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,348 (+103)
• Per-theater average: $6,691
• Cume to date: $71.2 million
No. 2: Ray (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $20.1 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,006
• Per-theater average: $10,020
No. 3: Saw (Lions Gate, R)
• Gross: $17.4 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,315
• Per-theater average: $7,516
No. 4: Shark Tale (DreamWorks, PG)
• Gross: $8 million (-44%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 3,381 (-275)
• Per-theater average: $2,366
• Cume to date: $147.4 million
No. 5: Shall We Dance? (Miramax, PG-13)
• Gross: $6.2 million (-27%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,476 (+57)
• Per-theater average: $2,538
• Cume to date: $33.9 million
No. 6: Friday Night Lights (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.1 million (-41%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,004 (+35)
• Per-theater average: $1,365
• Cume to date: $52.9 million
No. 7: Ladder 49 (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.3 million (-37%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 2,382 (-420)
• Per-theater average: $1,398
• Cume to date: $66.1 million
No. 8: Team America: World Police (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-51%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,335 (-285)
• Per-theater average: $1,328
• Cume to date: $27.2 million
No. 9: Surviving Christmas (DreamWorks, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.6 million
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,755 (+5)
• Per-theater average: $944
• Cume to date: $8.1 million
No. 10: Taxi (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.1 million (-48%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 1,884 (-473)
• Per-theater average: $1,141
• Cume to date: $32.7 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Birth (New Line, R)
• Gross: $1.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 550
• Per-theater average: $3,091
Enduring Love (Paramount Classics, R)
• Gross: $35,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 5
• Per-theater average: $7,000