Search
Partners
Anime News
|
'High School Musical 3' Sets Records Biggest October Weekend in History Date: 10/27/2008 |
|
Disney?s High School Musical 3: Senior Year made the successful leap from the small screen to the Cineplex with a boffo opening estimated at $42 million, posting the most successful debut ever for a musical and the largest opening weekend gross for a G-rated movie in history. In second place this weekend was Saw V, which earned $30.5 million. Altogether Hollywood managed to squeeze $136 million out of a recession-plagued public, making this the biggest October weekend in Tinseltown history. The squeaky clean High School Musical 3, which reportedly cost only $13 million to produce and market, brought in a huge audience that consisted largely of girls under 16 (and their parents). Once again Disney demonstrated the company?s expertise in creating wholesome family entertainment. After two hugely successful HSM TV movies, the property simply outgrew its small screen beginnings and managed to transfer its TV popularity into a record setting opening in 3, 623 theaters where it averaged a healthy $11,593 per venue. WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (Studio Estimates): Oct. 24-26, 2008 Rank Film Weekend Gross Screens Avg./Screen 1 High School Musical 3: Senior Year $42,000,000 3,623 $11,593 2 Saw V $30,500,000 3,060 $9,967 3 Max Payne $7,600,000 3,381 $2,248 4 Beverly Hills Chihuahua $6,916,000 3,190 $2,168 5 Pride & Glory $6,325,000 2,585 $2,447 6 The Secret Life of Bees $5,935,000 1,630 $3,641 7 W. $5,330,000 2,050 $2,600 8 Eagle Eye $5,136,000 2,558 $2,008 9 Body of Lies $4,065,000 2,150 $1,891 10 Quarantine $2,550,000 2,228 $1,145 As with previous iterations of this property Disney has done a great job merchandising HSM 3 and there are all sorts of HSM branded products including Tokyopop cinemanga and an HSM card game. Although the attendance at HSM 3 fell from Friday to Saturday night indicating that there was a pent-up demand for the movie that drove a large portion of its potential audience to Friday night shows, the film pleased audiences and earned a CinemaScore of ?A,? something that could indicate that it will be a force next weekend as well since it will face little in the way of competition from new ?G? rated movies. The other major new release, Saw V, also represents a known brand--the torture-based Saw property is about to become the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time. As of Sunday night the Saw movies have grossed $316.2 million and should easily pass the Friday the 13th series? total of $317.8 million well before Halloween, but Saw V, which scored only a CinemaScore of ?C? with opening weekend audiences, is likely to suffer a substantial decline next weekend. Last weeks top film, the video game-based Max Payne, fell to third place with a drop of 57% to an estimated $7.6 million, while Disney?s Beverly Hills Chihuahua declined just 39.5% while earning an estimated $6.9 million and bringing its cumulative to $78 million after 23 days of release. D.J. Caruso?s Eagle Eye fell to number 8 in its fifth weekend of release. So far it has earned nearly $88 million and it remains the number one film of the fall season so far. Oliver Stone?s W. dropped 49.3% in its second weekend, but managed to earn an additional $5.3 million, bringing its nine day total to $18.7 million and making it the most successful ?political? film of this election season. |
| Source: ICv2 |
