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A Dulling Saw?

saw2.JPGThe weekly box office wrap-up is one of the most-discussed but, really, most-misleading pulse points for our culture. Every week, media outlets across the land report how much money the weekend’s biggest films took in and try to figure out where we are, culturally speaking. We at Plugged In do it, too. I danced a little jig when Up pocketed $68 million opening weekend (“Family movies rule!”). I scratched my head when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took $109 million its first weekend out (“Stupid movies rule!”).

Do any of these figures really tell us anything about our society or the people who inhabit it? Well, maybe. Maybe not. Many of the same folks who loved Up loved Transformers, too. People are funny that way.

But with the theaters awash in fright-fare this weekend, the box office take still made for interesting reading. On Friday, everyone expected a close fight between Paranormal Activity, the ultra-cheap, ultra-psychological horror flick that’s become the cinematic story of the fall, against Saw VI, the daddy of all torture-porn movies.

Turns out the battle wasn’t even close. Playing on far fewer screens, Paranormal snagged $22 million to Saw‘s $14.8 million. Keep in mind, the previous Saw installment made more than twice that.

In some ways, you’d wonder why I should even care. I mean, it’s not like I’d tell you to run out and see either of these flicks. Paranormal is a demonic thriller burdened with loads and loads of f-words. Saw VI is, well, a Saw movie.

But, in truth, I’d root for almost any film to beat Saw, which made cutting folks up on screen almost socially acceptable. When I see a Saw film rule the weekend box office standings (as it has for four of its previous five installments), my heart aches a little.

Does this mean that Saw‘s losing its teeth? Again, maybe, maybe not. These films are so inexpensive to make that we probably still haven’t seen the last of Jigsaw et al. “If we end up with at least $20 million, Lionsgate vice president and general manager David Spitz told Time magazine, “we’ll be talking about Saw VII this time next year.”

Oh, joy.