By Brian Fuson
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Halloween weekend proved to be a mixed bag at the North American box office, with Dimension's horror-spoof "Scary Movie 3" treating itself to the top spot for the second consecutive session as it took in an estimated $21.1 million.
"Scary 3" was down 56% from its debut and has collected an estimated $78.6 million in a mere 10 days. It is the first film to hold the top spot for two weekends in a row since New Line's "Freddy vs. Jason" in August.
Disney's "Brother Bear" took the unusual step of going wide on Saturday, giving deference to Halloween falling on Friday, since families and young moviegoers -- the film's target audience -- would not be as readily available that day.
The G-rated, traditionally animated "Bear" placed second with a solid estimate of $18.5 million in two days, a strong start for the family adventure film. Including its limited release in two theaters last week, the haul is an estimated $18.9 million.
It seems that Halloween is becoming a more commercial venture every year and as such is taking a bigger bite out of box office receipts. This trend hits especially hard when the holiday falls on a Friday or Saturday. Altogether, receipts on Friday were down by some 40%-plus, compared with the Friday a year earlier, when Halloween fell on a Thursday.
But even so, film grosses recovered on Saturday for the most part, with the weekend total for the top 12 films being down 9% from the comparable frame a year ago. In addition, the majority of the holdovers in the top rankings performed well, seeing drops of close to or less than 30% from the prior weekend.
New Line's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," which outperformed the other top pictures on Friday, ended up in the third slot with an estimated $10.9 million, down just 25% in its third session. The R-rated remake has picked up an estimated $66.1 million to date.
Sony's "Radio" dialed in an estimated $10.2 million to take the fourth slot, off a slim 23% from its debut last week. The Revolution Studios film, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris, has grossed about $26.8 million in 10 days.
Two films aimed at mostly adult audiences, 20th Century Fox's "Runaway Jury" and Warner Bros. Pictures' "Mystic River," held up exceptionally well as both slipped a scant 19% from the weekend before to place fifth and sixth, respectively. "Jury" took in an estimated $6.9 million, raising its total to roughly $33.7 million, while "Mystic" grossed an estimated $6.3 million, taking its total to roughly $33.6 million.
One other newcomer joined the top 10. Screen Gems' "In the Cut" added 819 theaters this weekend, bringing the count to 825, and sliced off an estimated $2.3 million to place 10th, about $50,000 ahead of "Good Boy!" After a strong start a week earlier, the Meg Ryan starrer, directed and co-written by Jane Campion, averaged a weak $2,788 per theater on this weekend's expansion. The total stands at around $2.5 million.
There were several new films in limited release this weekend. Fox's "Alien: The Director's Cut," playing to the spirit of the Halloween weekend, had the widest release among them with 347 engagements. Response was lukewarm, however, as the sci-fi scarefest grossed an estimated $1.04 million and averaged a soft $2,997 per theater. The reissue has taken in an estimated $1.3 million since its Wednesday release.
Miramax's "The Human Stain," a drama starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, was in 160 locales and garnered an estimated $1.1 million. Directed by Robert Benton and based on the best-selling book by Philip Roth, the drama averaged a promising $6,875 per theater.
But Lions Gate's "Shattered Glass" had the strongest per-theater average among the frame's new limited releases. The drama -- based on the true story of Stephen Glass, a journalist who fabricated much of what he wrote -- logged an estimated $80,000 from eight sites. The Billy Ray-directed feature starring Hayden Christensen averaged a robust $10,000 per theater.
Rialto's reissue of the 1959 film "Eyes Without a Face" enjoyed a strong performance with an estimated gross of $21,000 from three houses. The dramatic horror film averaged a solid $7,000 per theater.
Also appearing in limited release was Sundance's "Die Mommie, Die!" which debuted in 10 locations and grossed an estimated $50,113. The dark comedy, helmed by Mark Rucker and starring Natasha Lyonne, averaged $5,011 per theater.
Executives at Miramax were pleased but not surprised that "Scary 3" held onto the top spot. "People like the movie; the word-of-mouth is terrific," said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax. "Scary 3" suffered a steep 74% drop from the previous Friday, due to Halloween, but rebounded with a 130% Friday-to-Saturday upsurge.
Of the performance of "Human Stain," Sands said: "It's great, and we're extremely happy. It's working in a solid way in all 25 markets." Sands noted the film had an extensive grass-roots publicity campaign. "We decided on this release pattern to build the base, and we're going to be expanding over the next several weeks," he said.
Regarding the unusual two-day weekend for Disney's "Brother Bear," Buena Vista Pictures president distribution Chuck Viane said: "This was a great weekend. The families came out and loved the movie. We can't wait until next weekend. You make that kind of decision not to compete on a natural holiday, and you're always glad when the results show you've made the right decision."
Disney did take advantage of Halloween by placing a trick-or-treat bag in local newspapers in five major U.S. markets Friday to promote and "Bear" and the upcoming "Haunted Mansion."
Executives at Sony and Revolution welcomed the solid hold by "Radio" in its sophomore frame. "It's a tough environment, but with the kind of word-of-mouth it's getting, 'Radio' is really finding its place," Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Jeff Blake said. Added Revolution partner Tom Sherak, "'Radio' is the kind of movie that lives or dies by word-of-mouth, and the word-of-mouth on this movie is phenomenal."
Universal's "Love Actually" had 565 sneaks Saturday and generated positive responses as 78% of patrons gave the Hugh Grant vehicle film an excellent mark, and capacity ran at the same percentage. The audiences skewed toward older women, as 73% were 30-plus and 68% were female. "Love" opens wide Friday and will be in theaters along with two newcomers: Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Matrix Revolutions," which opens wide Wednesday, and New Line's "Elf."
The Hollywood Reporter projects the total for all films this weekend to be in the low- to mid-$100 million area, down from last year's $118.3 million.
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