"High School Musical" Has Record-Breaking Weekend

LOS ANGELES — The crazed killer Jigsaw has been done in by a bunch of singing and dancing teens. Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" hoofed its way to the top of the weekend box office class with $42 million, while Lionsgate's horror sequel "Saw V" had to settle for second place with $30.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. A big-screen sequel to the Disney Channel TV movies, "High School Musical 3" had a record opening for a song-and-dance flick, easily beating the previous best of $27.8 million, set over the summer by "Mamma Mia!" "High School Musical 3" and "Saw V" combined to send Hollywood revenues soaring. The top 12 movies took in $120.5 million, up 41 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Saw IV" led the weekend with a $31.8 million debut. "It was good vs. evil at the box office, and both won," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "That combination of a G-rated and an R-rated movie, both chasing ... (link)