By Sarah Sluis
Halloween decimated the box office this weekend. Returning films showed huge drops on Friday, and 
new releases opened to disappointing numbers that they were unable to recoup on Saturday and Sunday. #1 release High School Musical 3, for example, dropped 90% on Friday, earning around $1 million, but then dropped only around 40% from last week for both Saturday and Sunday, earning $14 million for those two days to bring its weekend total to $15 million. With a Halloween-free weekend, the film would have been on track to make over $20 million.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno opened at #2 with a less-than-stellar take of $10.6 million. As with other teen-oriented flicks that receive advance buzz for their lewdness (i.e. American Pie), web comments suggest that exhibitors took extra steps to prevent underage patrons from viewing the film, including checking IDs at point of entry, that might have affected the film's gross. Zack and Miri will have competition next week with R-rated, less objectionably titled Role Models, which might cut into the film's ability to rebound next week.
Horror picture The Haunting of Molly Hartley earned $6 million at #5 (coming in below Saw V's $10 million take at #3). Both films did comparatively well on Halloween, earning more than #1 release HSM3, but even the scare pictures earned less on Halloween than they did on Saturday and Sunday.
Changeling pulled in $9.4 million, earning $5k per theatre; however, in terms of a Clint Eastwood or Angelina Jolie vehicle, the results are underwhelming. The film still has room to grow, both from
increasing the scale of its release and by rebounding from the Halloween weekend. THR's Risky Business blog, however, attributes the film's relatively weak opening to the tepid critical response of the film, noting a correlation between the RottenTomatoes scores of Eastwood's films and their box-office revenues.
Other films in the top ten included Beverly Hills Chihuahua (#6, $4.7 million), now only $8 million under Eagle Eye's total of $94 million and inching towards $100 million. The Secret Life of Bees dropped only 33% to finish at #7 with $4 million. Action/crime pictures Max Payne (#8, $3.7 million), Eagle Eye (#9, $3.4 million), and Pride & Glory (#10, $3.2 million) rounded out the bottom five. Unlike the films in the top five, these films had below-average box-office drops, averaging 30-40% less than the previous week.
This week Madagascar 2 will release, competing for the G-rated audience, along with R-rated Role Models, specialty picture and European sensation The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Soul Men, and Repo: The Genetic Opera. Check back on Friday for a further rundown of the week's releases.
Full box office results viewable here.
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