Weekend Roundup: One Saw to Rule Them All

By Katey Rich

Ugh. I warned everyone, and I warned myself, on Friday, that we would  be seeing Saw atop the weekend's box office, and there was nothing we could do about it, and we ought to just get over it. And even though Saw opened on about 1,000 more screens than the next-widest release, Dan in Real Life, and even though it's got undeniable sequel power, and even though it's kind of Halloween-themed, I still can't get the bad taste out my mouth. Another Saw hit? Seriously?

My favorite part of the Box Office Mojo recap explains the limited appeal of the film: "Distributor Lionsgate's exit polling suggested that 90 percent of the audience had seen the previous three movies. The picture's main selling point was solely that it was the latest Saw. Other than the promise of more grisly puzzles, no new hook was presented in the marketing campaign and the slogan simply read "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw." Like sheep heading to the slaughter...

There was at least a little bit of good news underneath the Saw success, with the modest grown-up comedy Dan in Real Life earning $12 million on 1,900 screens, good enough for second place. And despite some weird grumbling (third item down) that George Clooney isn't a box office draw anymore, Michael Clayton is holding strong at #6 in its fourth week. Critically-praised Gone Baby Gone dropped only one place in its second week, to 7th, and even the quieter We Own The Night has managed to hang on in the top 10, coming in at #9. And my favorite success story of the fall, the 3D re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, rounded things out at #10, continuing to net an impressive per-theatre average ($5,900 this week). I re-watched this movie for the first time in years over the weekend, and totally get the appeal of seeing it in 3D; my roommate still has her 3D glasses from catching it last year, so now it's time for me to round up a posse of my own to see it while the Halloween-y feelings last.

Also in the top 10 were the unbeatable The Game Plan, which is making a killing by being the only family-targeted film out there right now; it stayed strong at #3. Why Did I Get Married? is sticking around at #4, though it dropped nearly 50% from last weekend, and for some reason people are still paying good money to see The Comebacks, which came in at #8.

The full Box Office Mojo results are after the jump. It's also worth noting that Things We Lost in the Fire continues to self-destruct, with a $626 per-theatre average that sank it to #20.The Darjeeling Limited also earned little attention in its wider expansion, actually dropping from #13 to #16 despite adding 500 screens. And critical punching bag Rendition is hanging on at #11, but given that it comes in below Nightmare Before Christmas and is playing on four times as many screens, that's not much to be proud of.

1	N	Saw IV	LGF	$32,110,000	-	3,183	-	$10,087	$32,110,000	-	1
2	N	Dan in Real Life	BV	$12,081,000	-	1,921	+1,525	$6,288	$12,081,000	-	1
3	1	30 Days of Night	Sony	$6,700,000	-58.0%	2,859	+4	$2,343	$27,318,000	$30	2
4	3	The Game Plan	BV	$6,257,000	-23.5%	3,342	+41	$1,872	$77,067,000	-	5
5	2	Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married	LGF	$5,740,000	-52.9%	1,897	-137	$3,025	$47,300,000	-	3
6	4	Michael Clayton	WB	$5,030,000	-24.7%	2,585	-	$1,945	$28,774,000	-	4
7	6	Gone Baby Gone	Mira.	$3,900,000	-29.1%	1,713	-	$2,276	$11,310,000	-	2
8	5	The Comebacks	FoxA	$3,450,000	-37.9%	2,812	-	$1,226	$10,004,000	-	2
9	7	We Own the Night	Sony	$3,400,000	-37.3%	2,402	+40	$1,415	$25,070,000	$21	3
10	8	Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3-D (2007 re-issue)	BV	$3,347,000	-37.2%	564	-	$5,934	$10,002,000	-	2
11	9	Rendition	NL	$2,350,000	-42.1%	2,250	-	$1,044	$7,800,000	-	2
12	10	The Heartbreak Kid	P/DW	$1,764,000	-53.8%	2,003	-779	$880	$35,134,000	-	4
13	16	The Darjeeling Limited	FoxS	$1,735,000	+34.2%	698	+497	$2,485	$6,100,000	-	5
14	12	Across the Universe	SonR	$1,700,000	-35.9%	964	+4	$1,763	$19,309,000	-	7
15	11	Elizabeth: The Golden Age	Uni.	$1,611,000	-48.9%	1,603	-403	$1,004	$14,019,000	-	3
16	14	Into the Wild	ParV	$1,599,000	-25.2%	658	-	$2,430	$8,967,000	-	6
17	N	Bella	RAtt.	$1,324,000	-	165	-	$8,024	$1,324,000	-	1
18	13	The Kingdom	Uni.	$1,211,000	-48.0%	1,053	-677	$1,150	$45,930,000	$70	5
19	36	Lars and the Real Girl	MGM	$952,000	+404.8%	296	+275	$3,216	$1,356,000	$12	3
20	15	Things We Lost in the Fire	P/DW	$715,000	-54.2%	1,142	-	$626	$2,832,000	-	2