
Friday’s box office results spelled trouble for the once mighty “Saw” franchise in the form of Paramount’s upstart horror pick-up “Paranormal Activity”. Luckily for film fans, Saturday’s attendance rates could offer no quarter to the fearsome Jigsaw killer who finished outside of first place for the first time since the original “Saw” debuted back in 2004. Playing in about 1,000 fewer venues, “Paranormal” didn’t just manage to keep its lead throughout the three day frame, its solid performance also kept those “Saw VI” numbers down to about half of what the film’s predecessors averaged from 2005 to 2008.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | Paranormal Activity | $22,000,000 | $62,400,000 |
| 2 | Saw 6 | $14,800,000 | $14,800,000 |
| 3 | Where the Wild Things Are | $14,420,000 | $53,960,000 |
| 4 | Law Abiding Citizen | $12,713,000 | $40,317,000 |
| 5 | Couples Retreat | $11,097,000 | $78,213,000 |
| 6 | Astro Boy | $7,017,000 | $7,017,000 |
| 7 | The Stepfather | $6,500,000 | $20,312,000 |
| 8 | Vampire’s Assistant | $6,347,000 | $6,347,000 |
| 9 | Cloudy w/Meatballs | $5,600,000 | $115,200,000 |
| 10 | Zombieland | $4,300,000 | $67,300,000 |

“Paranormal Activity” continued its impressive run on Friday as the horror phenom managed to wrestle first place away from the “Saw” franchise for the first time in four years. “Saw VI” could only scare up an estimated $7 million from its 3,036 venues which means that any hope of another $30 million weekend for the Lionsgate series is now lost. So sad. “Paranormal” went from 760 screens last weekend to just shy of 2,000 on Friday, earning another $7.6 million in the process. The pre-holiday week was not nearly as kind to Friday’s also-rans. Relativity/Universal’s “Cirque de Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” fell short of the top five with $2.2 million, proving that sticking ‘vampire’ in the title is not enough to lure “Twilight” fans away from the coming of “New Moon”. The news was even worse for Summit/Imagi’s “Astro Boy” which could only manage a $1.8 million debut from over 3,000 screens. Last weekend’s top earner, “Where the Wild Things Are”, fell a disappointing 64% to third place while Fox Searchlight’s “Amelia”, on 818 screens, fell off the radar altogether. Check back tomorrow for complete details and the final three day estimates.
| Title | Friday | Total | |
| 1 | Paranormal Activity | $7,600,000 | $48,100,000 |
| 2 | Saw 6 | $7,000,000 | $7,000,000 |
| 3 | Where the Wild Things Are | $4,400,000 | $43,900,000 |
| 4 | Law Abiding Citizen | $4,100,000 | $31,700,000 |
| 5 | Couples Retreat | $3,700,000 | $70,800,000 |

A slew of posters hit the web today (I’m not sure the quantity of a “slew” but we have four posters below) and I have witty comments on all of them that I’m sure you will enjoy. Or you can just skip my words (and make me sad) and just look at the posters. You’ll find both after the jump.
Who knew that Hilary Swank would get a run for her money in playing aviator Amelia Earhart from Amy Adams who brought so much life and vigor to the silly and underwritten role in “Night at the Musuem: Battle of the Smithonian”. this past summer. But judging from this new trailer, Swank’s film, “Amelia” is playing for Oscars whereas “Night at the Museum” was playing more for families looking for a way to shut their kids up for two grueling hours.
Sadly, I don’t think we’re going to get the honest biopic here but the hagiography. Also, characters earnestly saying “She’s going to make it!” comes off kind of funny when you remember that she disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle and i’m pretty sure that they don’t count that as “making it”. Yes, I’m sure we’ll see Amelia struggle through sexism and discrimination to become a kick-ass pilot, but will she have any flaws? Or is it too soon to imply that Amelia Earhart may have been a human being as opposed to “Icon”, “Hero”, and other one word descriptions that no real person fairly described could possibly live up to.
Hit the jump to check out the trailer. “Amelia” hits theatres on October 23rd.
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