HOLLYWOOD - No one was holding any Grudges this weekend at the box office.Sony's creepy remake of the Japanese horror film Ju-On, the Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer The Grudge, scared away the competition with a whopping $40 million, bumping reigning champ Shark Tale into second place with $14.3 million.
Obviously audiences were in the mood for something a little scarier, especially this close to Halloween, but the big debut for The Grudge indicates it grabbed more than the usual Halloween crowd, Sony distrib head Rory Bruer told The Associated Press.
"I would say that when you do $40 million, it's got to be more than the Halloween influence," Bruer said. "You have [producer] Sam Raimi [Evil Dead], who's got incredible knowledge of this genre. We had tremendous marketing, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was out there pounding the pavement, fighting for this film."
Ben Affleck's new comedy Surviving Christmas did not fare as well in its opening weekend, taking only seventh place with a measly $4.5 million. Critically panned, the film may have also been hurt by its October release date. "It is a little early, but people would accept Christmas in October if it had been a really good movie," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, told AP.
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 debuted at No. 1 with $48.1 million in 3,505 theaters, averaging $13,727 per theater; New Line's R-rated Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which came in second in its second week with $14.4 million in 3,018 theaters, averaging $4,794 per theater; and Sony Pictures' PG-rated Radio, which opened in third place with $13.3 million in 3,074 theaters, averaging $4,328 per theater.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES:
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The Grudge (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $40 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,245
• Per-theater average: $12,327
No. 2: Shark Tale (DreamWorks, PG)
• Gross: $14.3 million (-35%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,656 (-292)
• Per-theater average: $3,911
• Cume to date: $136.9 million
No. 3: Shall We Dance? (Miramax, PG-13)
• Gross: $8.6 million (-27%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,419 (+647)
• Per-theater average: $3,561
• Cume to date: $24.4 million
No. 4: Friday Night Lights (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $7 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,969 (+205)
• Per-theater average: $2,358
• Cume to date: $47.2 million
No. 5: Team America: World Police (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $6.6 million (-46%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,620 (+81)
• Per-theater average: $2,519
• Cume to date: $22.3 million
No. 6: Ladder 49 (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.4 million (-36%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,802 (-453)
• Per-theater average: $1,933
• Cume to date: $61.4 million
No. 7: Surviving Christmas (DreamWorks, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,750
• Per-theater average: $1,636
No. 8: Taxi (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.2 million (-46%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,357 (-644)
• Per-theater average: $1,803
• Cume to date: $29.8 million
No. 9: The Forgotten (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.4 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 2,253 (-515)
• Per-theater average: $1,509
• Cume to date: $62.1 million
No. 10: I Heart Huckabees (Fox Searchlight, R)
• Gross: $3 million (+228%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 785 (+720)
• Per-theater average: $3,822
• Cume to date: $5.9 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Sideways (Fox Searchlight, R)
• Gross: $208,293
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $52,073
The Machinist (Paramount Classics, R)
• Gross: $64,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3
• Per-theater average: $21,333
Undertow (MGM, R)
• Gross: $25,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 6
• Per-theater average: $4,167