Box Office Results: Halloween Weekend

Capitalizing off the Halloween weekend, the Lions Gate film Saw III pulled in $34.3 million from movie-goers in its three day debut. This is the third year in a row a Saw picture has held the top spot during late October. The recent installment surpassed last years Saw II which raked in $31.7 million and Saw which totaled $18.3 million when it debuted in 2004.

Finishing in the number two spot for the third straight week was The Departed, a Martin Scorsese film staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon. It’s $9.8 million weekend brought its total to $91.9 million.

Thee magic seemed to disappear for Disney’s The Prestige which fell from the top spot and landed at number three. The $9.6 million brought in from the Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale flick pushed its 10-day total to $28.8 million.

For Clint Eastwood the release of Flags of Our Fathers produced yet another disappointing weekend. It opened a week earlier with $10.2 million in sales and held the number three spot but fell this weekend to number four bringing in $6.4 million. If history repeats itself, Eastwood could be looking at another Oscar. Neither Mystic River nor Million Dollar Baby opened well for Eastwood but caught Oscar buzz and movie-goers hurried to the screen.