'Evil Dead' frightens, and 'Jurassic Park 3D' still has some roar

Evil Dead showed it could still scare audiences. The remake of the 1981 cult classic earned $26 million over the weekend. Anywhere over $20 million or so is a pretty good sign for a horror remake. However, it's likely the gross-out horror movie will fade fast, especially because it only received a "C+"
rating in exit polls.

Twenty years after Jurassic Park introduced its groundbreaking special effects to audiences, it turns out they still look pretty good--even, and especially, in 3D. The re-release of the Steven Spielberg-directed classic earned $18.2 million. Overseas, it could do even better, though it hasn't released in any key foreign markets yet. Next year, Jurassic Park 4 will hit theatres, and audiences will be primed to
revisit the world of the original film.

With some kids finishing up spring break, animated The Croods showed strong holding power, dipping just 21% for a third-weekend total of $21.1 million and a total of $125 million. That's only slightly off the third-week total for DreamWorks Animation's 2010 hit How to Train Your Dragon, a great sign for the studio after its holiday release, Rise of the Guardians, disappointed.

All three new specialty releases posted debuts in the $30,000 per-screen range, but had different numbers of total locations. Robert Redford-led The Company You Keep unspooled in 5 locations, averaging $29,200 per screen. Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle's thriller Trance averaged $34,000 per screen in 4 locations,
giving it a cumulative total just $10,000 below Company You Keep's. Finally, the cryptic sci-fi romance Upstream Color earned $31,000 at a single location.

The weekend was also good for indies expanding their releases. The Place Beyond the Pines went from 4 to 30 locations and rose 148% to $695,000. The Ryan Gosling-led indie maintained a per-screen average above $20,000, which bodes well for future weeks.

The music-filled feature The Sapphires is also on its way up. As it added 48 locations, it earned 3.5 times its total last week, for a weekend haul of $322,000.

This Friday, 42 tells the story of the first black man in Major Leauge Baseball, Jackie Robinson, and horror parody Scary Movie 5 will give Evil Dead watchers a chance to make fun of the films they love.