LOS ANGELES — Hollywood may be suffering through a spiritless patch but Halloween films can still lend a needed jolt, as Lionsgate’s new Jigsaw horror film and a clutch of other scary films showed by boosting an otherwise flimsy weekend box office.

Jigsaw, the eighth chapter in Lionsgate’s Saw horror franchise, took in an estimated US$16.3 million over the three-day weekend, according to industry website Exhibitor Relations. It beat out the same studio’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, with $10 million.

But after that, no film in the top 10 made as much as $6 million, with audiences distracted by baseball’s World Series and the hugely popular Netflix series Stranger Things. Even Jigsaw fell some $4 million below expectations in its opening weekend, Variety.com reported.

That movie, the first Saw sequel in seven years, has police investigating a string of horrific murders committed in the style of the supposedly long-dead killer Jigsaw. Made for just $10 million, the film is already in the black.

Boo 2 strikes a somewhat lighter tone. The comedy horror sequel has Tyler Perry (who also wrote, directed and produced it) and his gang heading to a haunted campground, where – no surprise – monsters lurk.

Geostorm, a new release from Warner Bros, took third place, earning $5.7 million. The sci-fi disaster thriller follows Gerard Butler as a satellite designer tasked with saving the world from an apocalyptic storm caused by climate-controlling satellites run amok.

Happy Death Day, another comedy horror flick, took in $5.1 million. The Universal film stars Jessica Rothe as a college student who repeatedly relives the day she was murdered until she discovers who killed her.

In fifth place was sci-fi reboot Blade Runner: 2049, taking $4 million.

The film features Ryan Gosling as a Los Angeles Police Department "blade runner" charged with killing bioengineered androids who are becoming too much like humans. He goes on a search for Harrison Ford’s character – the original blade runner – who had disappeared years earlier.

With ticket sales in October some 5 per cent below the same month last year, Hollywood is eagerly awaiting next week’s domestic premiere of Marvel and Disney’s Thor: Ragnarok. It took in an impressive $108 million in its international opening. — AFP