'Saw VI' and 'Paranormal Activity' battle for scares

By Sarah Sluis

This week's extra-scary throwdown features horror titles Saw VI, opening in 3,036 theatres, and Paranormal Activity, which is expanding to 1,945 theatres. All five Saw movies opened above $30 million, but competition from Paranormal could cut that figure. If Paranormal's per-screen average drops another 50%, it will come in at $24 million. Saw VI is tracking best among young males (perhaps the horror fans who have already seen Paranormal), while Paranormal Activity has broader appeal that extends to women and older males. If teens are going in big groups to see the movie, will the crowd-pleaser prevail, or will they go for something all of them haven't seen?

Amelia opens in 818 theatres, the kind of small-scale distribution that characterizes many Fox Searchlight releases. Critic Ray Bennett praised the "classically structured bio," but other reviewers have been less kind to the traditional approach, which seemed antiseptic to some. "Bathed in golden light, Amelia and G. P. [her husband] are as pretty as a framed picture and as inert," lamented New York Times critic Manohla Dargis.

Animated Astro Boy (3,014 theatres) will compete with last week's box-office winner, Where the Wild Things Are. "Visually dynamic if overly eager-to-please," according to critic Michael Rechtshaffen, the family-oriented movie is based on a manga originally published in Japan in 1951, and also draws from its numerous adaptations.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant opens on 2,754 screens, but appears too bloodless to cash in on current vamp chic. Critic Kirk Honeycutt called director Paul Weitz "miscast." It's also a PG-13 movie that skews younger, not older, fracturing its audience. "Miscalculation runs through the entire movie," which is destined for a lackluster open.

Among specialty releases, Antichrist, a film that is "in no danger of jeopardizing [Lars von Trier's] reign as the most controversial major filmmaker working today," according to critic Peter Brunette, will open on six screens. Uma Thurman's Motherhood, small in scope but well-rendered, will open on 46 screens. Coming in below the radar, a 3D re-release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas will be shown on 105 screens, unlike the recent release of Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D, which opened on many more screens with greater marketing support.

On Monday, we'll circle back to see if fresh horror or viral buzz won over the box office, if Amelia soared above its reviews, and if Astro Boy could woo families away from Where the Wild Things Are and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.