LOS ANGELES, Sep 4 (Reuters) Rock star Rob Zombie's reworking of the classic slasher movie ''Hallow

LOS ANGELES, Sep 4 (Reuters) Rock star Rob Zombie's reworking of the classic slasher movie ''Halloween'' scared up record business at the North American box office during the US Labor Day holiday weekend, while overall ticket sales for the lucrative summer moviegoing period reached a new high.

According to studio estimates issued yesterday, ''Halloween'' sold about 31 million dollars worth of tickets since opening on August 31, easily beating forecasts of a $20 million bow for the four-day period.

The old record for a Labor Day holiday weekend opening was set two years ago, when ''Transporter 2'' opened to 20.1 million dollars. The all-time record for the holiday was 29.3 million dollars set by 1999's ''The Sixth Sense'' in its fifth weekend.

Writer/director Zombie offers a fresh back story for Michael Myers, the taciturn knife-wielding killer who has starred in nine movies since John Carpenter's 1978 original.

The film cost about $15 million to make, said Bob Weinstein, co-founder of the film's closely held producer, the Weinstein Co.

While scary movies such as ''Hostel II'' and ''Captivity'' have tanked recently, Weinstein said they belonged to the ''torture porn'' genre, while ''Halloween'' was more of a mystery suspense movie.

''Obviously Michael Myers is a serial killer (but) it doesn't play like those other movies,'' Weinstein said.

Zombie, whose real name is Rob Cummings, rose to fame in the 1990s at the helm of the heavy metal band White Zombie.

He made his feature directing debut with 2003's ''House of 1000 Corpses.'' The horror aficionado has built a strong following among fans of the genre.

SUMMER BONANZA The Labor Day holiday marks the traditional end of the lucrative summer moviegoing season, during which the studios inundate the masses with sequels.

Ticket sales for the period rose to $4.18 billion, breaking the old mark of $3.95 billion set in 2004, said tracking firm Media By Numbers.

Not coincidentally, both years featured ''Shrek,'' ''Spider-Man'' and ''Harry Potter'' movies.

The studios can thank higher ticket prices for the boost, rather than an increase in the number of people paying to see their movies.

Summer attendance, at 610 million, was only the 5th-highest in modern history. (In the pre-television era, the number of tickets sold was considerably higher.) The modern-day record of 653 million was set in 2002, when sales came in at 3.79 billion dollars, No. 5 by that measure. Since then, the average ticket price has risen by 1.05 dollars to 6.85 dollars.

Media By Numbers principal Paul Dergarabedian said it would be a tough challenge to revisit 2002 attendance figures, given the increased competition for the entertainment dollar. But at least attendance had recovered sharply from the 2005 slump, when only 563 million people showed up at the summer movies.

After two weekends at No. 1, the teen comedy ''Superbad'' slipped to No. 2 with 15.6 million dollars, its total rose to 92.4 million dollars, and the film should hit the 120 million dollars range, said Rory Bruer, president of distribution at Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

Two other films debuted in the top 10. The martial arts movie parody ''Balls of Fury'' came in at No 3 with a modest 13.8 million dollars, while the Kevin Bacon vigilante thriller ''Death Sentence'' was dead on arrival at No 8 with 5.2 million dollars.

REUTERS NC RAI0900