Another quiet weekend at the box office as everyone stayed home to binge 'Stranger Things'
- "Jigsaw" won the weekend box office with an estimated $16 million.
- It was another weak performance by the box office, as many were likely home watching "Stranger Things" on Netflix.
- "Jigsaw" had the second-lowest opening of any movie in the "Saw" franchise.
- The George Clooney-directed "Suburbicon" was given a D- CinemaScore.
With Halloween coming on Tuesday, Hollywood was hoping the resurgence of a classic scary movie franchise over the weekend would bring in business, but most found that Netflix had something better to offer.
Lionsgate dusted off its profitable "Saw" franchise with the release of "Jigsaw" over the weekend. It did its job and won the weekend, but only took in an estimated $16.25 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.
That's the second-lowest opening for the franchise, which in the early 2000s was averaging around $30 million opening weekend per-film. Only 2009's "Saw VI" ($14.1 million) had a lower opening weekend.
But with a $10 million production budget and bare-bones marketing, Lionsgate can't be too disappointed.
However, Hollywood in general has to look at this weekend and see it as just another indication that young people just aren't motivated to go to the movie theater week in, week out anymore.
But perhaps the studios knew that and conceded.
The major studios' only had two offerings. Universal's coming home war movie "Thank You for Your Service," which despite being directed by the screenwriter of "American Sniper" and starring Miles Teller, only took in $3.7 million.
And Paramount suffered another major dud with the release of the George Clooney-directed, Matt Damon starrer, "Suburbicon." The studio has now come off the F CinemaScore grade its Darren Aronofsky thriller "mother!" received in September with "Suburbicon" getting a D- grade this month by the exit poll tracking company. The movie opened with $2.8 million.
But there's always next week. Marvel will come to the industry's rescue when it opens the anticipated "Thor: Ragnarok" on Friday.