Musical Belts Out Record Opening

Sweetness and gore dominated the box office this week, reports Variety. High School Musical 3 bopped off with $42 million, having the best opening ever for a musical. Runner-up Saw V, with $30.5 million, still chopped the rest of the field down to size. The box office take was up 30% from a year ago, the studios estimate, because there was little overlap between the audiences for the top-earners.

Max Payne was a distant third-placer with $7.6 million, followed by Pride and Glory’s $6.3 and W.’s $5.3. Kidnapping-flick Changeling ran off with a huge $502,000 from only 15 screens. (More box office stories.)