'Grudge 2' thrills box office, Williams doesn't

LOS ANGELES, Oct 16 (Reuters) The horror sequel ''The Grudge 2'' easily scared up the most business at the weekend box office in North America, while Robin Williams got a fright of his own as his new comedy bombed.

According to studio data issued yesterday, ''The Grudge 2'' sold about 22 million dollars worth of tickets during its first three days. The figure includes actual sales from Friday and Saturday, and an estimate for Sunday. Final numbers will be released today.

The opening was in line with expectations, but down from the surprisingly strong 39 million dollar debut of its 2004 predecessor. The new film, which cost just 20 million dollars to make, marks the 12th chart-topper this year for Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures.

Williams' ''Man of the Year,'' in which the actor plays a TV comic who runs for president and actually wins, opened at No 3 with 12.6 million dollars. Insiders had predicted an opening in the mid-to high-teen millions for the critically slammed film. A spokeswoman for Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co, was not available for comment.

Last weekend's champion, Martin Scorsese's cat-and-mouse gangster saga ''The Departed,'' slipped to No 2 with 18.7 million dollar, buoyed by strong midweek business and glowing word-of-mouth. Its total stands at 56.6 million dollars, and the film will ''easily'' break 100 million dollars, said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

UNBEARABLE 'GRUDGE' ''The Grudge 2'' revolves around an undead mother-daughter duo who terrorize hapless souls across the globe. The star of the first installment, Sarah Michelle Gellar, is quickly dispatched at the outset, leaving new arrival Amber Tamblyn, playing her younger sister, to take over as scream queen.

As is often the case with such genre films, the movie was not screened for critics in advance of its Friday opening. In reviews published over the weekend, Daily Variety said the story made little sense, while the Hollywood Reporter said the film was ''too pointless to bear.'' The ''Grudge'' franchise originated in Japan, and both Hollywood versions were directed by its creator, Takashi Shimizu. The remakes were produced by Ghost House Pictures, a low-budget specialist run by ''Spider-Man'' director Sam Raimi and ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' creator Rob Tapert.

The film inevitably stole business from ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,'' which fell three places to No 5 with 7.8 million dollars in its second weekend. Both are expected to take a hit in two weeks when yet another grisly sequel, ''Saw 3,'' gets an early start on Halloween. ''Chainsaw'' distributor New Line Cinema is a unit of Time Warner.

In the arthouse world, novelist Truman Capote sashayed into movie theaters for the second time in just over a year, but this time with less style. ''Infamous,'' a movie that covers the same ground as 2005's ''Capote'' -- the killings that inspired his true-life novel ''In Cold Blood'' -- earned just 435,000 dollars from 179 theaters in about 40 cities. By contrast, ''Capote'' opened with about 100,000 dollars less from just 12 theaters, and went on to score an Academy Award for star Philip Seymour Hoffman.

In the new film, released by Time Warner's Warner Independent Pictures, British actor Toby Jones generated good reviews for his turn as the fey scribe, even as pundits commiserated about the film's unfortunate second-place arrival.

REUTERS AKJ RAI0902