Box Office 10/24

While Disney denies it, the weekend is in the bag for High School Musical 3. The other big opener, Saw V will also perform, but does not have the pull of the HSM family franchise. HSM3 is the first of the HSM series to get theatrical berth and though it was a television hit in ratings and has become a cultural phenom, this is uncharted waters. If it is successful (which it will be), it introduces, perhaps, a new format in formulating franchises- especially for the other corporate studios who have television channels in their holdings (i.e. Paramount-Viacom's MTV, CBS; Fox; Universal- GE's NBC).

Numbers-wise I think we'll see $50 million for HSM- a big guess. Because they aren't in competing markets, Saw V will better the previous installment and take in $35 million opening weekend. That's right, I'm calling a HUGE weekend at the box office. The DJI is down another week and singing/dancing teeny-boppers and blood-filled torture scenes may just be the emotional cure people are looking for.