Moviegoers were ready for horror this past Halloween weekend, as they turned out to watch SAW III (with vfx from Switch VFX), giving Lionsgate Films its biggest bow in the company's history, topping the box office chart for the weekend ended Oct. 28, 2006, taking in $33.6M.
Meanwhile, Martin Scorseses THE DEPARTED held onto the second spot for Warner Bros. with $9.8M. With vfx from The Basement, Lola Visual Effects and Ockhams Razor, the Oscar-contending gangster film now has a four-week cume of $91.1M. Chris Nolans magic thriller, THE PRESTIGE, dropped to third place, conjuring $9.6M for Buena Vista (with vfx from French-based buf) and a two-week take of $28.8M. Moving down a notch to fourth place was another Oscar contender, Clint Eastwoods FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, which took in another $6.3M (with vfx from Digital Domain) for a cume of $19.9M. Now in fifth place was Sonys first 3D-animated OPEN SEASON, which brought home $5.8M for a cume of $77.1M.
Dropping to sixth was Foxs FLICKA (vfx from Furious FX) with $4.7M and a cume of $13.9. Universals MAN OF THE YEAR remained at seventh with $4.7M and $22.9M. Sonys THE GRUDGE 2 slipped down to eighth place with $3.3M and a three-week cume of $34M. Sonys MARIE ANTOINETTE slipped to ninth with $2.8M and a two-week cume of $9.7. Ninth place went to Foxs THE MARINE, which garnered $3.6M and $12.6M in two weeks. Shooting up to 10th was Sony's RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, which grabbed $2.5M for a cume of $2.8M.
In limited release from Buena Vista, TIM BURTONS THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN 3-D did an exceptionally well again in only 168 theaters for a per-screen average of $11,408; good enough for a 13th place finish, taking in another $1.9M for a cume of $6M. ILM was responsible for the groundbreaking work. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
