Disney

That was one diverse crowd at the multiplex.

The sunny, G-rated High School Musical 3: Senior Year and the beyond-dark, R-rated Saw V came together to gross a combined $72 million for a blockbuster weekend box office that included a strong debut for the Angelina Jolie true-story thriller Changeling.

HSM3 ruled the school, and the standings, with $42 million—the best opening ever for a movie musical, Disney said. Saw V carved out a $30.5 million debut for a second-place finish that would have been a first-place finish in any other weekend this fall.

All together, Troy Bolton and Jigsaw helped Hollywood buck the worldwide economic crisis yet again.

How'd they do it?

Fast starts.

HSM3 blew away any doubt that the franchise wouldn't translate to theaters from cable TV with an unexpectedly big $17 million opening day. Saw V, showing no sign of sequel fatigue, countered with a $14 million Friday.

Disney saw HSM3's success as a product of director Kenny Ortega's and the cast's hard work. Lionsgate saw Saw V's as an ascendance of the franchise's signature serial killer to Great Pumpkin status.

"Jigsaw has become as much a part of Halloween as pumpkins and trick or treating," Lionsgate president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg said in a statement.

Guess the kids in the Wildcats costumes next Friday better beware.

Other box-office tidbits:

• The Clint Eastwood-directed Changeling ($501,615 from 15 theaters) grossed more money per screen, a whopping $33,441, than any movie in release. The Jolie Oscar vehicle breaks wide next weekend.
• Business for HSM3 and Saw V fell on Saturday, where grosses for most movies go up on that day. What happened? Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock thinks the films' most rabid fans got their fixes on Friday.
• Bock says HSM3's Saturday dip—it "only" grossed $15 million—could be a bad sign for the film's longevity. "But the film cost $11 million, so the Mouse House is already eating cake—or cheese as it were," he wrote in an email.
• Disney gorged on cake and cheese worldwide, with HSM3 grossing nearly as much overseas ($40 million) as it did here. Per the studio, HSM3 is the first movie since The Dark Knight to open No. 1 domestically and internationally.
• So, HSM3 is just a kids' movie, right? Wrong. According to Disney, half the audience was over 18.
• So HSM3 is a pretty much a chick flick, right? Yup. Two-thirds of the audience was female.
• HSM3 wasn't the weekend's only hit TV-based movie. Jumping off from the Logo series, Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom did nearly as well in limited release as Changeling, coming up with $161,302 at five theaters.
• Lionsgate issued a press release saying Saw was about to become the "top-grossing horror franchise of all-time"—if you don't count the Hannibal Lecter, Jaws, Alien and Exorcist movies, which Exhibitor Relations does. The studio later clarified that it meant Saw was the top-grossing horror franchise in terms of how much the films cost (not much) versus how much they made (a lot).
  
• The luck of the Irish cop was not with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell's debuting Pride and Glory ($6.3 million).
• Writer-director Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York scored a solid $173,000 at nine theaters, per Box Office Mojo, thanks to moviegoers who persevered and asked for the film by name.
• Among holdovers, Max Payne ($7.6 million; $29.7 million overall) swooned, W. ($5.3 million; $18.8 million overall) held up OK, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua ($6.9 million; $78.1 million overall) continued to make pretty much everyone else look bad.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. High School Musical 3: Senior Year, $42 million
2. Saw V, $30.5 million
3. Max Payne, $7.6 million
4. Beverly Hills Chihuahua, $6.9 million
5. Pride and Glory, $6.3 million
6. The Secret Life of Bees, $5.9 million
7. W., $5.3 million
8. Eagle Eye, $5.1 million
9. Body of Lies, $4.1 million
10. Quarantine, $2.6 million