'Jigsaw' pieces together chart-topping opening weekend

Hollywood may be suffering through a spiritless patch but Halloween films can still lend a needed jolt, as Lionsgate horror film "Jigsaw" and a clutch of other scary films showed by boosting an otherwise flimsy weekend box office.

"Jigsaw," the eighth chapter in the "Saw" franchise, took $16.6 million over the three-day weekend, according to industry website Exhibitor Relations. It beat the same studio's "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween," with $10.1 million.

After that, no film in the top 10 made as much as $6 million, with audiences distracted by baseball's World Series and the return of hugely popular Netflix series "Stranger Things."

Even "Jigsaw," the first "Saw" sequel in seven years, fell some $4 million below expectations in its opening weekend, Variety magazine reported, although its paltry $10 million production budget will ensure it makes a profit.

The latest installment has police investigating a string of horrific murders committed in the style of the supposedly long-dead killer Jigsaw.

Comedy horror sequel "Boo 2" strikes a somewhat lighter tone, with Tyler Perry (who also wrote, directed and produced) and his gang heading to a haunted campground, where -- no surprise -- monsters lurk.

"Geostorm," a new release from Warner Bros., took third place, earning $5.9 million. The sci-fi disaster thriller follows Gerard Butler as an engineer tasked with saving the world from an apocalyptic storm caused by climate-controlling satellites run amok.

"Happy Death Day," another comedy horror flick, took in $5.1 million. The Universal film stars Jessica Rothe as a college student who repeatedly relives the day she was murdered until she discovers who killed her.

In fifth place was sci-fi reboot "Blade Runner: 2049," taking $4.1 million.

The film features Ryan Gosling as a Los Angeles Police Department "blade runner" charged with killing bioengineered androids who are becoming too much like humans. He goes on a search for Harrison Ford's character -- the original blade runner -- who had disappeared years earlier.

With ticket sales in October some five percent below the same month last year, Hollywood is eagerly awaiting next week's domestic premiere of Marvel and Disney's "Thor: Ragnarok." It took in an impressive $108 million in its international opening.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Thank You for Your Service" ($3.8 million)

"Only the Brave" ($3.5 million)

"The Foreigner" ($3.4 million)

"Suburbicon" ($2.8 million)

"It" ($2.5 million)

Source: AFP