1. "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" ($25 million)
2. "9" ($11 million)
3. "Inglourious Basterds" ($6.6 million)
4. "All About Steve" ($6 million)
5. "The Final Destination" ($5.7 million)

Despite the plethora of R-rated or similarly violent films at the box office this weekend, Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" proved the most cunning when it comes to earning theatergoers' hard-earned cash. "I Can Do Bad" took in $25 million over the course of the weekend, capitalizing on the $5 million lead it boasted over the competition going into Saturday morning. Still, Perry's "Bad" was only his third best opening ever, falling short to his earlier 2009 effort "Madea Goes To Jail," which made $41 million in its first weekend. Read more...

1. "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" ($8.6 million)
2. "9" ($3.3 million)
3. "Sorority Row" ($1.92 million)
4. "Inglourious Basterds" ($1.9 million)
5. "All About Steve" ($1.8 million)

After weeks upon weeks of violent fare dominating the movie scene, most box office watchers -- myself included -- expected a similar result at theaters this weekend. Considering Friday's results, however, there's a new lesson to be learned in Tinsel Town: never underestimate Tyler Perry. Read more...

1. "The Final Destination" ($12 million three day, $15 million four day)
2. "All About Steve" ($11 million three day, $13 million four day)
3. "Inglourious Basterds" ($10.8 million three day, $13 million four day)
4. "Gamer" ($9 million three day, $11 million four day)
5. "District 9" ($6.2 million three day, $8 million four day)

Come on, did you really expect a guy named Steve to cheat Death? Whatever your expectations, it didn't happen -- the current four day forecast for the Labor Day box office weekend puts "The Final Destination" in first place over "All About Steve," the Bradley Cooper/Sandra Bullock-starring romantic comedy that opened this weekend. Read more...

1. "The Final Destination" ($3.58 million)
2. "All About Steve" ($3.55 million)
3. "Gamer" ($3.3 million)
4. "Inglourious Basterds" ($3 million)
5. "District 9" ($1.7 million)

Last weekend, "The Final Destination" proved that not even Michael Myers could defeat the almighty Death itself. But this weekend tells the tale of a champion that could steal Death's top box office spot -- and that champion, ladies and gentlemen, is named Steve.

Preliminary estimates of Friday's box office intake show a fierce battle between "The Final Destination," the fourth and potentially final installment of the death-heavy horror franchise, and "All About Steve," the debuting romantic comedy starring Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock. "Destination" is edging the rom-com by such a slim margin that it's difficult to call a clear winner, a fact that is further complicated because "All About Steve" is playing in fewer theaters than the horror flick. All told, "Steve" has the better per screen average thus far. Read more...

1. "The Final Destination" ($28.3 million)
2. "Inglourious Basterds" ($19.5 million)
3. "Halloween II" ($17 million)
4. "District 9" ($10.7 million)
5. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($8 million)

Based on the results of the Saturday Box Office Report, it was already clear that the slow-moving, knife-wielding terror of Michael Myers was no match for the elaborate deaths of "The Final Destination." What wasn't clear at the time was that Myers had another enemy to worry about -- and that enemy wants his scalp. Read more...

1. "The Final Destination" ($10.925 million)
2. "Halloween II" ($7.625 million)
3. "Inglourious Basterds" ($5.9 million)
4. "District 9" ($3 million)
5. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($2.3 million)

Over the past few weeks, the box office has been filled with shoot-'em-ups and all out war; this weekend introduces the gore with "The Final Destination" and "Halloween II," two movies that continue (and potentially finish, if you believe the premise of the former) their respective horror franchises. While the villain of the "Final Destination" series is less tangible than the hulking Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie-directed sequel, "Destination" is nonetheless the place to be in terms of the box office. The death-filled thriller enjoyed a Friday debut of $10.925 million and is looking at a weekend intake of $26 million. "Halloween II," on the other hand, only opened to $7.625 million on Friday and is expected to make $17 million by the weekend's conclusion. Read more...

I'm pleased to report that things are back to status quo. Last week's top stories were relatively free of "Twilight" news but we're back on track this week thanks to the barrage of images and news that emerged. We'll get to that in a minute though. First let's wrap up the weekly box office poll.

There was a big voter turnout this week, though nearly all of your votes went to one of the two horror releases: "Halloween II" and "The Final Destination." Rob Zombie's flick edged out "Destination," with 60% of the vote compared to the other's 38%. The remaining 2% is spread across the rest of the choices, with no clear leader among them. Now that that's out of the way, let's see what your clicks favored... Read more...

"The Final Destination" is out today. The title implies that this is it for the series, now four strong, though horror titles have a tendency to be misleading. "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" and "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" are certainly the worst offenders, but there are others. Our very own John Constantine proved today that there are still plenty of ideas left to mine for the franchise.

Here we have a pair of image galleries for your viewing enjoyment. First up is a set of film stills, in which you'll see an assortment of young, beautiful people looking scared for their lives. With good cause too. After the jump, you'll see those same beautiful people smiling radiantly on the red carpet of the "Final Destination" premiere. Click the image to check out the associated gallery.

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A good buddy of mine asked me if I had plans for this evening. I did not.

“Dude, you have to come see ‘The Final Destination’ with me,” he said.

“Nah. I saw the second one in the theater. People died. I think I got the gist of it.”

He fired back: “You’re telling me you don’t want to see a giant stock car crush someone in 3D?”

The man made an excellent point. I do want to see that. But that’s got to be as far as they can go, right?

After four movies, a series of novels and a comic book, you’ve got to think that this quiet little horror franchise has run its course. After all, creating new and elaborate Rube Goldberg machines of grisly death is hard work. What else could they possibly do to shock audiences who’ve been watching far-fetched tragedies befall teenagers for close to a decade now?

Here are a few thoughts on possible directions: Read more...

Lots of movies vying for your attention this week, so let's get right to it. The big release of course is Rob Zombie's "Halloween II," a follow-up to his 2007 remake which continues the story in the rebooted universe. I'll be straight with you readers: Zombie scares the crap out of me. I wore out my White Zombie CDs back in high school and I loved his contribution to the movie "Beavis & Butthead Do America," but Zombie's particular vision what is scary falls right in line line with the worst of my nightmares.

Also new in horror this week is the third "Final Destination" movie, titled "The Final Destination," which I presume means it will be the last in the series. Until the inevitable reboot, of course. The flick comes to two flavors: regular and 3-D. For those who have no experience with the series, it's sort of a prototypical "Saw": a small group of people escape certain death after one has a premonition. The survivors then die one by one, in a series of increasingly elaborate set pieces. Good times. Read more...