"Scary Movie" Still Boo-tiful

Scary Movie 3 was the top trick-or-treater this Halloween.

For the second straight weekend, the mock shock flick was number one, frightening up $20 million from Friday to Sunday, according to final studio figures.

The parody survived a big scare, though, narrowly averting the clutches of Brother Bear. The Disney 'toon, which only moved into wide release Saturday, gathered in $18.6 million in just two days, and registered a higher per-screen average that the horror comedy released by sister studio Dimension.

At 3,505 sites, the PG-13 Scary Movie 3, in which Charlie Sheen, Leslie Nielsen, Queen Latifah, et al. goof on the pretensions of high-minded scarefests like Signs, averaged $5,711 per screen. Despite dropping 56 percent from its opening weekend, the film has now grossed $77.5 million (which is more than Scary Movie 2) and already spawned a fourth movie in the franchise.

Meantime, the traditionally animated Brother Bear, starring the voices of Joaquin Phoenix as the boy bear and Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as two goofy moose in a why-can't-we-all-just-get-along fable, moved into 3,030 sites, after debuting in just a pair last weekend. Avoiding Halloween, when movie theaters aren't a destination for trick-or-treating kids, the G-rated Buena Vista release averaged $6,404 per screen, bringing its current gross to $19.8 million.

In limited release, Miramax's R-rated drama The Human Stain, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel about sexual and racial hypocrisy starring Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman and Gary Sinise, made its mark. At 160 sites, it averaged a promising $6,464, taking in more than $1 million.

Also new in limited release was Alien : The Director's Cut. The R-rated digitally restored Fox release averaged $2,950 at 347 sites, earning $1 million. When director Ridley Scott's scary space trip, starring Sigourney Weaver and an acid-drooling creature, originally debuted at just 91 sites on Memorial Day weekend 1979, it took in $3.5 million over four days with a per-screen average of $38,768. Back then, when money counted for more, it eventually went on to gross $78.9 million.

At just eight sites, the Lions Gate release Shattered Glass, starring Hayden Christensen as a real-life New Republic magazine journalist who fabricated stories, opened strongly, writing up $77,540.

On this weekend's top 10 list, the bloody scare flick The Texas Chainsaw Massacre dropped down a slot to third place, losing only 25 percent of its previous weekend's audience. The revamped tool-happy horror flick tallied another $10.8 million and has now grossed $66 million in three weeks.

Just missing the top 10 was In the Cut. Expanding from 825 screens from six last weekend, Meg Ryan's thriller averaged $2,501 to earn $2.1 million in 11th place. The R-rated Screen Gems release has totaled $2.2 million.

Paramount's Beyond Borders, which didn't even open in the top 10, went completely south in week two. The far-flung romance, starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen as aid workers, fell 50 percent. It only averaged $565 per screen at 1,796 sites. The super bomb has grossed just $3.8 million.

Because of Halloween, only the boo-themed entries managed much business Friday. So the top 12 movies' overall gross was just $90.2 million, a down weekend after a run of ups; receipts were off 25 percent from last weekend and 11 percent from this time last year, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Here's how the top 10 lined up, according to final figures released Monday:

1. Scary Movie 3, $20 million
2. Brother Bear, $18.6 million (Saturday and Sunday only)
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, $10.8 million
4. Radio, $9.6 million
5. Runaway Jury, $6.5 million
6. Mystic River, $6.2 million
7. Kill Bill: Volume 1, $4.53 million
8. School of Rock, $4.52 million
9. Intolerable Cruelty, $2.5 million
10. Good Boy!, $2.3 million

(Originally published November 2, 2003 at 1:05 p.m. PT.)