Other Crap

Weekend Box Office Results for October 26–28, 2007

Saw IV did as well as or better than predicted, but slowed a bit from Friday and did not break the record for the SAW series. The last three in the franchise have performed almost identically. SAW II opened with $31.7m, SAW III $33.6, SAW IV $32.1. All four of the films have opened on the Friday before Halloween, for four consecutive years. It appears to be a Halloween tradition with enough of a following to defy the nearly universal recent rejection of torture porn.

Dan in Real Life exceeded expectations for a solid second place.

The Nightmare Before Christmas again kicked ass and finished in the top ten.

There was a real sleeper among the new releases. An unheralded film aggregated a better average per theater than Dan in Real Life and The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was Bella, a film in Spanish and English which was the 2006 winner at the Toronto Film Festival. How did that happen? I don't know. It must have been promoted somehow within the Spanish-speaking community. I found out just now that it is playing in Austin, but I never would have known if I hadn't seen it among the weekly leaders.