HALLOWEEN BOX OFFICE FRIGHTENING

Maybe the box office will just have to wait until next week when it won’t have to deal with the distractions of inclement weather, the final game of the World Series, and Halloween. All of those factors and others — the growing dissatisfaction with 3D (only about 51 percent of moviegoers were willing to pay the 3D premium this weekend) and the economy in general gave the box office a serious case of the blahs, with total revenue for the top 12 films coming in at $93.6 million. To be sure, last year’s figures were worse — $86.6 million, but the list then included numerous low-budget flicks, including Saw 3D, Paranormal Activity 2, R.E.D., and Jackass 3D. This year’s fare included Paramount/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots, which reportedly cost $135 million to make, but collected only $34.1 million in its debut, the worst opening for a DreamWorks Animation feature since 1998; Fox’s In Time, which was reportedly budgeted at $55 million, but earned only $12.1 million; and the 3D movie The Three Musketeers, which cost a like amount. Many of DreamWorks Animation’s stockholders bailed on the news of the Puss in Boots ticket sales. Shares in the company dropped nearly 9 percent on Monday and had fallen another 2.3 percent on the Nasdaq at midday today, trading at $18.25, about half of its 52-week high of $37.74. Meanwhile, playing in limited release, Sony Columbia’s Anonymous earned a better-than-expected $1.02 million in 265 theaters, or $3,856 per theater, and Paramount Vantage’s critically praised Like Crazy took in $123,140 at four theaters in New York and Los Angeles — or $30,7685 per theater.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Puss in Boots, Paramount/DreamWorks Animation, $34,077,439, (New); 2. Paranormal Activity 3, Paramount, $18,144,516, 2 Wks. ($80,919,170); 3. In Time, 20th Century Fox, $12,050,368, (New); 4. Footloose, Paramount, $5,502,026, 3 Wks. ($38,544,825); 5. The Rum Diary, Film District, $5,135,369, (New); 6. Real Steel, Disney, $4,783,149, 4 Wks. ($73,941,416); 7. The Three Musketeers, Summit, $3,507,359, 2 Wks. ($14,847,237); 8. The Ides of March, Sony, $2,804,435, 4 Wks. ($33,600,618); 9. Moneyball, Sony, $2,387,049, 6 Wks. ($67,408,099); 10. Courageous, Sony/Tristar, $1,838,096, 5 Wks. ($27,681,975).