'High School Musical 3' graduates to the big time with $42 million

Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" -- the first installment of the 2-year-old franchise to graduate from cable TV -- recorded $42 million at the box office. The total gave it the best opening weekend ever for a movie musical, outpacing this summer's "Mamma Mia!" ($27.8 million) and last year's "Hairspray" ($27.5 million).

Lionsgate's "Saw V," the only place in America one can find more blood and gore than in the stock market, pulled in an estimated $30.5 million weekend gross. For the "Saw" franchise, that marks a record four sequels in a row to open at more than $30 million -- particularly noteworthy given that the movies have been scheduled very tightly, opening annually to tie into Halloween each year.

The two franchise openings fueled a major lift for total box office this weekend, the fifth in a row to exceed year-ago totals. "High School Musical's" G rating and "Saw V's" R may have proved to be an ideal parlay to serve a wide spectrum of moviegoers.

"Ultimately, there was something for everyone in the marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers. "It shows that if you put the right movies in the market, people will turn out."

Filling out the top five this weekend were holdovers "Max Payne," a Fox production with an estimated $7.6 million gross; Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," with $6.9 million; and Warner Bros.' newcomer, "Pride & Glory," a cop picture starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, with $6.3 million.

Hiltzik is a Times staff writer.

michael.hiltzik@latimes.com