Box Office - 'Paranormal' Beats 'Saw' on Friday

I was willing to sacrifice the Friday night box office to Saw VI and give the rest of the weekend to Paranormal Activity. On Thursday, I pushed the scenario that more people would migrate from Saw to Paranormal than the other way around, but traditionally, horror movies always start strong on Friday and fade quickly. So Saw should have won last night and Paranormal could make up the difference on Saturday and Sunday. However, that didn't happen and the weekend could already be over. The micro-budgeted and beautifully marketed Paranormal Activity, building on two straight wins on Wednesday and Thursday, opened the weekend with a narrow victory over Saw VI, earning $7.6 million compared to $7 million for its more familiar competition. As I said, horror movies are prone to fall off in their performances later in the weekend. That would effect Saw more than Paranormal Activity, which, it goes without saying, isn't playing by the same rules. Because Saw VI is a better film than Saw V, word of mouth could keep that film more competitive this weekend, and the fact that it's in 1,100 more theaters won't be a hindrance on Saturday and Sunday. However, I kind of doubt there's as much widespread interest in another Jigsaw movie at the moment as there is nationwide curiosity about Paranormal Activity. If the numbers hold as I think they will, it will be a pretty close race. It's worth noting, however, that Saw has never been beaten in its opening weekend in five previous years. Speaking of previous years, Saw IV and V both hit $14 million on Friday night, dropping about 30% of their audience on Saturday, and even more on Sunday. So knowing that the new film did half as well, a similar Saturday-Sunday pattern would not bode very well. A series used to opening in the low-30s could wind up south of $20 million this weekend. The rest of the top five on Friday also mirrored our Fearless Forecast, with Where the Wild Things Are, Law Abiding Citizen, and Couples Retreat finishing ahead of new releases The Vampire's Assistant and Astro Boy.

Comments

[andrew]

about time saw's grosses declined. can't believe people still watch em. i liked the first one, but gave up on the series after the shitty second one. finally, some original content beating out old stale franchises.

[Honz Brix]

Actually the 2nd one was good. The 3rd one was when it started going down hill

[Get The Big Picture]

I agree. I actually prefer the second one to anything else in the series.