Well, I have to admit, I thought Disney's (NYSE: DIS) High School Musical 3: Senior Year was going to drop quite a bit in rank this past weekend at domestic theaters even as early estimates from Boxofficemojo had indicated, putting Lions Gate Entertainment's (NYSE: LGF) Saw V in first place with $3.1 million for that day, while Senior Year dropped all the way down at spot number five with about $1.7 million. I was somewhat blown away by the expected decline. It was going to be Jigsaw's day, of course, but even so I didn't think Halloween would have that much of an effect on Disney's musical juggernaut.

But then, once the weekend estimates were actually in, the story changed. Senior Year was back on top! I guess moviegoers took a break from singing in the aisles to pay Jigsaw some respect on the dark holiday (maybe Lions Gate should put out a Saw musical in the future).

After that, it was back to the stories that populate the corridors of East High. Senior Year took in around $15 million, while the Saw sequel came in third with a haul of $10.1 million. Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, distributed by the Weinstein Co. and featuring comedy superstar Seth Rogen, was second with $10.7 million. General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal captured the fourth slot with Changeling, earning $9.4 million. The Haunting of Molly Hartley, from Freestyle Releasing, was fifth, grossing $6 million.

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'High School Musical 3' avoids Jigsaw's Halloween trap originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.