Texas Chainsaw 3D, the latest offering in the nearly 40-year-old film series, took the top spot in this past weekend's box office, according to data compiled by Box Office Mojo. The film brought in $21.7 million in its first weekend of release, which wasn't as much as the 2003 reboot of the original movie but more than the 2006 prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. The current Chainsaw is distributed by Lions Gate (LGF-A -0.89%).
No. 2 belonged to another violent film, Quentin Tarantino's 19th century slave revenge tale Django Unchained. It made just over $20 million in its second weekend of release to bring its total gross to $106 million, Box Office Mojo said, against a production budget of approximately $100 million. The movie is distributed by the privately held Weinstein Company.
Third place was taken by the erstwhile No. 1, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation's ticket receipts fell by 45%, but that still amounted to $17.6 million for the weekend. Worldwide, the film has grossed nearly $825 million. Time Warner (TWX) unit Warner Bros. distributes the movie.
