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Finishing second is our annual torture porn extravaganza from the Saw franchise. Despite feeling tired and now ordinary, Saw V still got the lead out this weekend, earning $30.5 million from 3,060 venues. It had an average of $9,967. This franchise is doing a great job at recycling the same audience, as the opening weekend for this entry is on target with the score of the last, which came in at $31.7 million. Like High School Musical 3 (how bizarre is that statement?), Saw V was also made on the cheap, costing Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate only $11 million to make. The two companies have now spent only $37 million on five films (average of $7.4 million each), and they have earned just short of $150 million from combined opening weekends. The first four Saw films have a combined domestic total of $285.7 million, and a worldwide gross of $554.7 million.

Legs are not something seen from the franchise, as torture porn does not beget repeat viewings. Also, these films are pretty much awful, and this one especially made little sense. Saw V came in at 14% fresh, but again, just like the films of the High School Musical franchise, reviews mean absolutely bupkus to the people supporting the Saw films on opening weekend. Next weekend brings Halloween on a Friday, so Saw V might make some okay money next weekend, at least beating Saw IV's dizzying drop of 67% in its second weekend.

Finishing third is last weekend's champ, Max Payne. The Mark Wahlberg starrer got dumped this weekend, as it dropped 57% to $7.6 million, but it could have been worse. With two films opening to more than $30 million, Max could have seen a 60% plunge, so the folks at Fox might be okay with this score. Max Payne should at least match the production budget ($35 million) to the domestic total, which now stands at $29.7 million after ten days of release.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua still manages a fourth place finish despite the opening weekend of High School Musical 3. The Disney dog movie earned $6.9 million, off an okay 39%. Disney has absolutely owned October, with Chihuahuas at the beginning and dancing teens at the end. Chihuahua is still on target to finish with about $100 million, and has a current total of $78.1 million.

Fifth goes to the star-driven opener of the weekend, Ed Norton's Pride and Glory. Pride and Glory earned $6.3 million and was obviously dumped by Warner Bros., not having a chance against the two openers, and not even working as counter-programming. This is the same old cop drama we can watch a multitude of times on television, and reviewers caught on. Pride and Glory finished with a fresh rating of 36% - simply not good enough to help it compete on a busy weekend. This one cost $30 million to make, which means it cost $9 million MORE than the other two openers combined. Look for Pride and Glory to disappear without much of an impact.

The Secret Life of Bees is our number six film, and the drop here is a little disappointing. Bees earned $5.9 million after a surprise $10.5 million open last weekend, which gives it a higher than expected drop of 44%. The good news for Fox Searchlight is that Bees cost only $11 million to make, and has a gross so far of $19.2 million. BOP's thoughts go out to Jennifer Hudson, one of the stars of Secret Life of Bees, over this tragic weekend for her.

W., the George Bush biopic get its you-know-what handed to it this weekend, as the Oliver Stone flick drops from $10.5 million last weekend to $5.3 million this weekend. The drop was expected, as interested audiences have already come out, and there were a lot of people that were never going to see this one in the first place (count me in that group). So far, W. has earned $18.8 million against a budget of about $25 million.

Eighth place goes to Eagle Eye, as the Paramount/DreamWorks film continues to earn after five weekends. Eagle Eye took in another $5.1 million and was off a tight 27% from last weekend. The Shia LaBeouf flick has now earned $88 million, out-muscling its $80 million production budget. Eagle Eye should still finish with more than $100 million.

Ninth goes to Body of Lies, the forgotten Crowe/DiCaprio starrer. Lies earned $4.1 million, was off 40%, and now has a total of $30.9 million against a $70 million budget.

Quarantine rounds out the top ten. The other horror film in the top ten got absolutely crushed, earning only $2.6 million. It dropped 58%, but is still a success for Screen Gems, as it cost $12 million to make and has a gross so far of $28.8 million.

In limited release this weekend, Clint Eastwood brings Angelina Jolie to the screen in Changeling, which opened at 15 venues. It earned $501,615 and garnered an average of $33,441.

Overall this weekend, the box office was way up over last year, thanks to High School Musical 3. The top 12 films this weekend earned a powerful $120.5 million, well ahead of last year's $85.3 million, when Saw IV led all films. Next weekend will give a lot of that lead back, as Halloween lands on a Friday. Openers include Zack and Miri Make a Porno, from director Kevin Smith and star Seth Rogen, and the poorly scheduled horror flick, The Haunting of Molly Hartley.

Top Weekend Box Office for 10/24/08-10/26/08 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	High School Musical 3: Senior Year	Walt Disney Pictures	$42,000,000	$42,030,184	+ 0.1%	$42,030,184
2	Saw V	Lionsgate	$30,500,000	$30,053,954	- 1.5%	$30,053,954
3	Max Payne	Twentieth Century Fox	$7,600,000	$7,791,649	+ 2.5%	$29,855,620
4	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	Walt Disney Pictures	$6,916,000	$6,884,387	- 0.5%	$78,110,782
5	Pride & Glory	New Line Cinema	$6,325,000	$6,262,396	- 1.0%	$6,262,396
6	The Secret Life of Bees	Fox Searchlight Pictures	$5,935,000	$6,051,630	+ 2.0%	$19,324,821
7	W	Lionsgate	$5,330,000	$5,088,249	- 4.5%	$18,506,750
8	Eagle Eye	DreamWorks Pictures	$5,136,000	$5,051,952	- 1.6%	$87,903,354
9	Body of Lies	Warner Bros.	$4,065,000	$4,064,488	0.0%	$30,889,452
10	Quarantine	Screen Gems	$2,550,000	$2,581,262	+ 1.2%	$28,801,265
11	Fireproof	Samuel Goldwyn Films	$2,137,383	$2,154,559	+ 0.8%	$23,627,556
12	Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist	Sony/Screen Gems	$2,000,000	$2,022,406	+ 1.1%	$29,544,861
	Also Opening/Notables
	Changeling	Universal	$501,615	$489,015	- 2.5%	$489,015
	The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D	Walt Disney Pictures	$372,000	$398,411	+ 7.1%	$398,411
	Passengers	Columbia Pictures (Sony)	N/A	$172,544	New	$172,544
	Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom		$161,302	$151,680	- 6.0%	$151,680
	Let the Right One In	Magnolia	$48,000	$49,295	New	$49,295
	Sex Drive	Summit Entertainment	$1,802,000	$1,819,785	+ 1.0%	$6,850,274
	RocknRolla	Warner Bros. Pictures	$101,000	$102,673	+ 1.7%	$571,962
	Happy Go Lucky	Miramax Films	N/A	$169,452	New	$429,199
	Religulous	Lionsgate	$980,000	$945,030	- 3.6%	$10,563,579
	Religulous	Lionsgate	$980,000	$945,030	- 3.6%	$10,563,579
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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