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Michael Jackson's This is It was the only new wide release this weekend, and essentially had the box office to itself. This may seem weird, but this is as it should be -- and it has more to do with Halloween falling on a Saturday than with any show of respect for the King of Pop. Predictably, This is It won the weekend, grossing $21.3 million for a total of $32.5 million since its Wednesday opening. That's a good number, and monumental for a documentary, though it is also an instance where the studio's hype machine may have led people astray.

Those who read the breathless press releases about the trumped-up advance ticket sales frenzy surrounding This Is It may be disappointed (or in any case surprised) by these figures. But over $30 million in five days for a concert documentary is nothing to sneeze at -- and I don't think that expecting much more was reasonable. (As a footnote, too, the movie made nearly $70 million outside of North America -- which also makes sense.)

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day bowed on 68 screens and grossed just under half a million in 16th place, which isn't bad, really -- confirming the small cult following for Boondock Saints that everyone already knew existed. Among holdovers, Paranormal Activity continued to add screens, and continued to hold up well -- it should break $100 million by this time next week. Saw VI and Where the Wild Things Are both suffered drops over 60%; Wild Things will top out around $70 million (pretty good for an art film), while Saw VI will wind up making around (or just over) half of the next lowest grosser in the franchise. Will the next one go straight to DVD? (Probably not, but it might be time to start asking the question.)

The full top 10 after the jump.

Sunday over at Cinematical's sister site, Horror Squad, vigilant contributor Brian Salisbury picked up a news story from Arrow in the Head about Saw VI receiving no less than an 'X' rating for violence from the ratings board in Spain. While this might be minor news if the rating board awarded 'X' ratings to its predecessors, or even just some of the other horror films released in recent years that borrowed from the first film's gag-inducing inspiration, evidently Saw VI is the first-ever movie that has been awarded the killer rating for violence in the country's history, which begs makes us wonder what the board saw in, uh, Saw that made it so offensive?

Despite having seen only the first and sixth installments in the Saw series, I can attest that the new film is indeed gross and gory, featuring scenes like a showdown between two victims to shave off enough body mass (or maybe just body parts) to survive, and a merry-go-round fitted with six victims who more or less indiscriminately suffer from direct shotgun blasts to the chest. But personally I'm not sure that the movie is really any more violent or gratuitous than any of its predecessors, even those that I haven't seen; while one could perhaps make the argument that many of Jigsaw's victims were dubiously "guilty" at worst (or even outright innocent), making their deaths more tragic, it seems unlikely that the murkier morality of this film would earn it a harsher rating than any of the others.

Since I'm sure there are plenty of readers who have seen all of the films and are ready to weigh in with their own opinions, we'll put the question to you: Is Saw VI deserving of an 'X' rating?

These days folks don't really wait for things to settle before they start making fun because there's always this unspoken contest to see who can crack the obligatory jokes first. When Paranormal Activity beat Saw VI at the box office this weekend, not only did it send a much welcomed shock through the Hollywood system, but it also automatically became the source of what we can only imagine will be at least a few dozen different upcoming spoofs. From the professional spoofers to the amateur, do-it-yourself-and-throw-it-on-You-Tube spoofers, get ready to be inundated with random shaky-cam videos about ghosts in bedrooms, in living rooms, in attics, in kitchens, in bathrooms, in toilets, and so on and so forth.

Funny or Die was first out of the gate this weekend, producing a spoof that mixes Paranormal Activity and Saw called Paranormal Saw. In the video, a couple set out to record ghosts in their bedroom, but instead are paid a visit by the Jigsaw puppet from Saw who keeps the two awake by talking about puzzles and games all night long. The second video, from Texas-based filmmaker Jordan Crowder, is called Parannoying Activity, and it also follows a couple who decide to record ghosts while they're sleeping -- only this time the ghost decides to screw with them constantly by doing stuff like rearranging their DVDs and solving all of the puzzles in a puzzle book.

How many videos will it take before everyone begins to hate Paranormal Activity? I sense a backlash starting in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

... watch both videos after the jump

This one is for the increasingly few of you who have steadfastly stuck with the Saw franchise through thick-and-thin in the aughts. The opening weekend numbers for Saw VI are the weakest since the first film, mostly thanks to some stiff competition from breakout hit Paranormal Activity. But box-office returns aren't everything. So: what'd you think?

I wrote this little piece before the release of Saw V last year, in the mode of a frustrated fan hoping for a revitalized franchise. It didn't happen; Saw V was boring and incomprehensible, and I was ready to skip the sixth film altogether. Then it got some decent reviews, and I thought what the hell. I'm glad I did. Saw VI, which sees editor Kevin Greutert take over directing duties, is easily the best Saw movie since the third. That may not be the most enthusiastic bit of praise I've ever issued, but miracle of miracles: the fifth sequel to a half-decent horror flick is legitimately pretty good. Here's how I think Saw got some of its bite back:

• Thriller momentum. For the first time in three years, a Saw movie is exciting, in an old-fashioned what-happens-next sort of way. There are creative traps a-plenty -- some of the most ingenious ones in the series, for those who are into that sort of thing -- but the film doesn't depend on them: it has a semblance of a protagonist, and a story that moves forward, and draws you in, and makes the 90 minutes feel like less. Which is related to my next point, namely:

Is the Saw bubble finally deflating for good? The sixth installment of the mainstay franchise played second fiddle to the still-surging Paranormal Activity this weekend, grossing only $14.8 million dollars -- less than half the bow of the previous four installments, and lower even than the original 2004 film. The competition from the plucky indie horror film likely has something to do with Saw VI's disappointing returns, waning interest is probably involved as well. Paranormal Activity, for its part, claimed the top spot for the first time in its impressive five-week run, hanging on to its momentum in its first weekend of legitimate wide release.

The Paranormal/Saw horror combo left the weekend's other newcomers floundering. Summit's Astro Boy didn't have the marketing muscle it needed, while Amelia was hurt by bad reviews and a lack of studio enthusiasm. But the weekend's real disappointment is Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, an obvious attempt by Universal to kick-start a new kiddie fantasy franchise, and a far, far bigger (albeit cheaper) fizzle than The Golden Compass. The Weitz brothers should no longer be permitted to work in this genre.

Where the Wild Things Are took a honking 55% hit in its second weekend, a victim of being an art film in mainstream guise. Law Abiding Citizen fared a little better -- it's now Overture's highest-grossing film.

The full top 11 after the jump.

October certainly brings spooks and scares to movie theaters nationwide. The month began with a bang, as Zombieland proved an unexpected hit, even as Paranormal Activity began making waves that are still cresting. The Stepfather was more a pallid thriller than any kind of horror flick. This weekend, Saw VI joined the fray at the hardcore edge of the horror spectrum, while Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant appealed to the softer, fantasy-loving set. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D also claimed a limited number of eyeballs, as did Lars von Trier's Antichrist, described as horror. The Final Destination, Halloween II, and Sorority Row are still hanging on in theaters.

Yesterday, Erik Davis asked which big horror release you're watching this weekend. (You still have time to vote in that poll.) But I'm wondering, with all the horror-related releases available to watch in theaters -- not to mention all the DVDs that have been pouring out this month, and the horror-themed programming awash on television -- has your Halloween-month viewing peaked already? Are you counting the days until the month is over?

I count myself as a horror buff, and read our great sister blog Horror Squad religiously (so to speak), but after a triple feature on Friday night that steadily diminished in quality (Paranormal Activity, The Final Destination, Halloween II), I wimped out on a potentially very good Asian horror double feature that the Asian Film Festival of Dallas presented locally: I fell asleep too early! But I'll probably catch up with one or two DVDs tonight.

What about you? If you're a horror fan, what are your personal picks from the month's viewing? If you're not into horror, what have you been watching lately?

Just when you thought it was safe to assume the mega horror franchise would once again own another Halloween at the box office, Friday estimates are showing that Paranormal Activity ($7.5 million) beat Saw VI ($7 million), despite the fact that the latter is playing on over 1,100 more screens than the former. Could this finally be the year that a Saw film tanks at the box office? Could Paranormal Activity be the movie that keeps Jigsaw in check? And if Saw VI loses the weekend box office to Paranormal Activity (which early estimates are indicating), what will this mean for the Saw franchise moving forward?

Whether or not you liked Paranormal Activity, you really do have to give it props for being one of the most successful underdog flicks in history. Do you realize that if the film somehow manages to pull in a total of $100 million at the box office (after this weekend it could climb above $60 million), it will become the most successful Paramount film in modern history? As Deadline Hollywood points out, the movie was acquired for $300k and the studio only spent around $10 million on prints and advertising, so, says a DH "insider", "this will be the best return Paramount has ever had." I'd like to repeat that because it's definitely worth repeating: This little indie film could give Paramount the best return it has ever had. Remarkable.



More on Paranormal Activity
Interview with Oren Peli, writer-director of Paranormal Activity
So what was Paranormal Activity's original ending?

Sorry to break it to fans of the Saw film series, but Jigsaw, a/k/a John Kramer is a self-righteous dick. In comparison to the Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers of the horror world, whose raison d'être is causing carnage mercifully bereft of deeper moral or instructional value, Jigsaw devotes a ridiculous amount of time thinking about what other people do with themselves, and effectively (if ironically) conceives his traps as object lessons in humility, compassion, and self-awareness. Personally, I find this high-handed moralizing far more painful than any evil device he could possibly design, but then again, that's why I'm not a fan of the series; that said, the latest installment in the Saw franchise appears to fulfill all of the demands of its audience and then some, making it a worthy and faithful entry in a franchise which at this point seems expressly designed to document people dying in increasingly inventive ways.

After a cold-open sequence where two loan officers compete to dismember themselves as an alternative to being literally screwed to death, Saw VI opens as Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) investigates Jigsaw's (Tobin Bell) latest crime – which, coincidentally, he helped execute. As he narrowly eludes discovery by his colleagues, across town a claims adjuster named William (Peter Outerbridge) becomes the victim of Jigsaw's next deadly game, while the long-deceased killer's widow Jill (Betsy Russell) carries out her late husband's final wishes. Soon, the paths of these various players intersect, but despite their various efforts to take control of their lives - and in some cases those of the others, it's Jigsaw himself who comfortably presides over all of them, even from beyond the grave. This time, though, his goal seems to be to drive his deadly game towards its ultimate conclusion.

According to longtime Saw editor and now first-time director Kevin Greutert, coming up with new and interesting ways to kill people is not as easy as one might imagine, especially when you've already come up with a gauntlet of gory deaths in not one but five previous films. "There's no point in trying to hide it," Greutert said in a roundtable interview in Los Angeles last week. "I think the films have this longevity because we've managed to rise to the task, somehow. But, it made me want to cry sometimes, sitting in a room, brainstorming and pounding my head against the wall. You can think of cool ways to kill people, but it still has to fit in with our story."

"It's very complicated, he insisted. "We want to always push the envelope to the end, in terms of insanity and mayhem, but if you go too far, it becomes campy or silly. It's a really tough balancing act." Ironically, Greutert is only the guy who has to bring those death traps to life; screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are the guys who have to actually develop and design them, making sure they're not only inventive and interesting, but that they actually reflect the personalities and storylines of the characters in each film.

Cinematical recently sat down with Dunstan and Melton to discuss Saw VI, the latest installment in the long-running horror franchise, to find out where they get those wonderful – and terrible – toys. In addition to describing their creative process, they talk about challenges of collaborating with a cast and crew filled with Saw experts, and reflect on why and how their debut on Project Greenlight didn't result in a dead end for their careers, as was the case with their predecessors.

Things went wild this past weekend as Where the Wild Things Are took top honors. The action flick Law Abiding Citizen also premiered well and Paranormal Activity continues to astound, taking third place while only playing in 760 theaters. Here's the top five:

1. Where the Wild Things Are: $32.7 million
2. Law Abiding Citizen: $21 million
3. Paranormal Activity: $19.6 million
4. Couples Retreat: $17.2 million
5. The Stepfather: $11.6 million

Four new releases this week, three of which will be putting the Halloween spirit into people.

Amelia
What's It All About: Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in this biopic of aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared during an attempt to fly around the world.
Why It Might Do Well: A historical drama is a pretty good counter programmer to all the horror and fantasy movies currently in release.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Right now we're looking at 17% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $6 million

Astro Boy
What's It All About: Adaptation of the classic anime (that itself takes a page from Pinocchio) about a robot boy with incredible powers.
Why It Might Do Well: 73% at Rottentomatoes.com ain't too shabby.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Will this character that originated in the 1950s translate well in the twenty-first century?
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $16 million