Box Office: 'Final Destination' too much for 'Halloween 2'

Two actors (does it really even matter who they are?) try to cheat death once again in this weekend's box office champ, "The Final Destination 3-D."

Credit: Warner Bros.

To say these are the doldrums of the summer box office season may be a colossal understatement.

In a rarity for August, two horror films have opened in the top spots.  According to Box Office Mojo, Friday's winner is "The Final Destination 3-D" with $10.9 million and an estimated take of $23-26 million.  If the estimates hold, it will beat the opening of 2006's "The Final Destination 3" which made $19 million its opening weekend.  The fact the current installment was in 3-D no doubt pumped up the returns, but it's still a shocking result considering this sequel was originally intended just for DVD.

Coming in second with $7 million and an "at best" estimate for a $17 million weekend is Rob Zombie's "Halloween 2."  The Weinstein Company may have made a mistake going up against "Final Destination 3-D" as this sequel to the 2007 reboot of the Michael Myers franchise won't come close to its predecessor's $26 million opening and surprising $58 million gross. 

The Weinstein Company can take heart, however, because in third place is last week's champ "Inglourious Basterds" with another $5.9 million.  Down 60% (although that should even out to mid-50's by the time the weekend is out), Quentin Tarantino's latest has already made close to $60 million total and should be closer to $70 million by the time the weekend is over.  The fact the magic $100 million mark is not out of reach is surprising for a picture many thought dead after it's disappointing response at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Fourth place with $3 million was "District 9" as its cume hit $83 million.  The critically acclaimed Sci-Fi thriller should make $9 million for the weekend and hit $100 million sometime in September.

"Julie & Julia" came in fifth place with another $2.1 million as the Nora Ephron romantic comedy really starts to slow down as it enters it's fourth week of release.  With an estimated $7 million and a projected $70 million total by the end of the weekend, the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams flick should end with around $85-90 million when all is said and done.

Other openers including Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock" which took in only $1.2 million from 1,393 theaters.  Even with the low theater count that has to be a tad disappointing for Focus Features who no doubt found selling a 70s themed comedy more difficult than they expected.

Look for final weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.