In a word, the weekend box office was torture for Lionsgate.
Cursed with Paramount's viral phenomenon "Paranormal Activity" unexpectedly opening wide on the pre-Halloween weekend release schedule, Lionsgate was hoping to at least premiere the sixth installment of its venerable "Saw" franchise to $20 million.
However, with "Paranormal" leading all comers this weekend with another $22 million at 1,945 venues, "Saw VI" is projected to finish the weekend with just $14.8 million, according to studio estimates. That’s less than half of the $30 million generated by each of the previous four "Saw" sequel installments upon their respective openings.
"This will not be the last ‘Saw,’" declared David Spitz, executive VP and general manager for Lionsgate. "It still is the No. 1 grossing horror franchise in the history of our industry. It’s a phenomenon in its own right that’s done over $350 million domestically."
"If you were Lionsgate, you couldn’t really see this thing coming," conceded Don Harris, executive VP of distribution for Paramount. "They were just unlucky."
Indeed, "Paranormal’s" rise from $11,000 amateur filmmaker project to a film that has grossed more than $62 million domestically is, in the words of Harris, like making "wine out of water."
And for his part, Spitz can sip some solace in the knowledge that outside of "Paranormal," nothing else released into theaters this weekend performed up to expectations, either.
Distributed into 3,014 theaters, the manga-animated "Astro Boy," a collaboration between Summit Entertainment and Japan’s Imagi Studios, didn’t come close to its makers’ double-digit hopes, opening to an estimated $7 million. Distribution in the Far East will ultimately determine whether the film’s $70 million price tag was worthwhile.
Meanwhile, all the way back in eighth place this weekend, "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant," didn’t come close to achieving Universal’s modest hopes either. The $40 million vampire fantasy, which stars John C. Reilly, will take in a projected $6.3 million over the three-day period.
Like "Saw VI," which saw its date-night audience sapped by "Paranormal’s" female drawing power, the PG-13-rated "Vampire’s Assistant" found its target audience in short supply.
"There’s no blood (in 'Paranormal Activity'), which makes the movie more accessible to audiences other than the male quadrant," Harris noted.
Meanwhile, in "Paranormal’s" wake, incumbents didn’t do great this weekend, either.
Warner’s "Where the Wild Things Are," last weekend’s box-office champ, dropped a whopping 55 percent and will finish its second weekend in third place with $14.4 million. The Spike Jonze-directed adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s kiddie-book classic has now taken in $54 million. Warner put its production budget at around $75 million.
More happily, Fox Searchlight biopic "Amelia," which stars Hilary Swank as the avionics-pioneering title character, took in $4 million at 818 theaters. For perspective, three weeks ago, it took 1,721 engagements to get Searchlight’s "Whip It" to $4.7 million.
Meanwhile, Overture’s Jamie Foxx/Gerard Butler thriller "Law Abiding Citizen" dropped only 40 percent in its second weekend, taking in $12.7 million. The $50 million movie’s two-week cumulative total now stands at $40.3
