Sharp Wednesday Decline for ‘Saw 3D’

Lionsgate's Saw 3D remained at the top of the box office on Wednesday, but the 3D sequel was down a sharp 33 percent from Tuesday. Wide releases in general experienced steep declines from Tuesday's inflated Election Day grosses. Saw 3D grossed $1.27 million, which places the film's six-day start at $29.37 million. Saw 3D is currently running 77 percent ahead of the pace of last year's Saw VI and 15 percent behind the pace of 2008's Saw V. Saw 3D is being helped by continued 3D grosses, but won't have the benefit of having Halloween fall during its second weekend (which Saw V and Saw VI both had).

Summit's Red held steady in second place with $0.95 million. The action-comedy starring Bruce Willis continued to hold up very well as it was down 21 percent from Tuesday and down a very slim 10 percent from last Wednesday. Yesterday's hold was especially impressive given that Red experienced a large Election Day increase on Tuesday. Red has grossed a better than expected $61.94 million through 20 days of release and is set to clear the $70 million mark before much longer.

Jackass 3D was up one spot to claim third place on Wednesday. Paramount's 3D sequel grossed $0.89 million, which was down 22 percent from Tuesday and down a respectable 38 percent from last Wednesday. After rapid declines over the past two weeks, Jackass 3D has been able to stabilize a bit over the midweek. Jackass 3D has grossed a very impressive $104.76 million in 20 days of release.

After falling to third on Tuesday, Paramount's Paranormal Activity 2 fell to fourth on Wednesday. The low-budget horror sequel grossed $0.85 million, which was down 29 percent from Tuesday and down 55 percent from last Wednesday. Paranormal Activity 2 has grossed a very strong $69.03 million through 13 days, but is showing no signs of being able to maintain momentum now that Halloween is behind us.

Warner's Hereafter rounded out the day's top five with $0.57 million. That represented a 22 percent decline from Tuesday and a 31 percent slide from last Wednesday. Like Jackass 3D, Hereafter has stabilized a bit during the midweek, but with three highly anticipated films opening on Friday it is still very likely to experience another large weekend decline. Hereafter has grossed $24.13 million to date.