School still rules box office
VARIETY BOX-OFFICE REPORT: Saturday bump puts Disney pic on top
By Pamela McClintock of Variety -- Video Business, 11/3/2008
NOV. 3 | VARIETY BOX-OFFICE REPORT: Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year enjoyed a massive rebound from Halloween to place No. 1 at the North American box office for the second weekend in a row and push its worldwide total to an estimated $146.8 million after 10 days in release.Theater traffic slows down dramatically when Halloween falls on a Friday, and this year was no exception. HSM3 grossed a mere $1.7 million on Friday, followed by a Saturday take of $8.2 million -- a day-over-day increase of nearly 400%.
Mouse House film ended the weekend with an estimated gross of $15 million from 3,626 locations for a domestic cume of $61.8 million, according to Rentrak. Overseas, the pic grossed $25.9 million; cume is $85 million.
Landing at No. 2 domestically was the Weinstein Co.’s R-rated laffer Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Directed by Kevin Smith, comedy opened to an estimated $10.7 million from 2,735 on the strength of younger moviegoers. The Seth Rogen-Elizabeth Banks pic was up a hefty 124% Saturday over Friday.
Lionsgate’s Saw V came in third in its second frame, grossing an estimated $10.1 million from 3,084 for a meaty cume of $45.8 million.
Read the full story on Variety.com.
