The safest bet in all of moviedom is Lionsgate's Saw franchise. It absolutely owned the Halloween weekend. Last year, this year (and next year, too), a Saw movie opened at number one. Saw IV hauled in $31.7 million. That's a smidge less than Saw III, but still more than Saw II.
Secondly, though some analysts are worried that this was the sixth down weekend, the box office was actually only 3% behind last year's tally.
More importantly, Halloween's almost past, and the last eight weeks of the year (the blurry rush that fast forwards right into the new year) has arrived.
Hello holiday moviegoing, and in what should be a gust of fresh, almost-wintry air, there's new life.
Searching for a movie with boffo reviews and a pedigree that can translate into hefty b.o. muscle? Here are Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the Ridley Scott-directed, epic crime drama, American Gangster.
Also looking good this weekend is Jerry Seinfeld, and his trademark wit, in the animated family comedy Bee Movie, which should play to Christmas and beyond to all ages and demographics.
And for John Cusack fans hoping to see more of the acclaimed actor's fatherly side, his first single dad movie opens, called Martian Child. Here, he adopts a 6-year-old that's convinced he's alien. Later this season, he's back (in another noted performance) as a widower father in Grace Is Gone.
It's a little bit of everything for everyone, from action to drama to lots and lots of comedy...just what the movie doctor ordered!
