Hollywood seems to be up and running again, fact proven true by the success of “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” on its first two weekends. Could this be a sign that people have enough money to spare on the occasional movie again? Or are people “living the good life” by going to the movies before the economy hits rock bottom? We’re all hoping for the first option.

This weekend was eventful to say the least, as it featured the opening of two movies that are part of immensely successful franchises – “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”, the third installment of the teen musical so far broadcast only on its producing channel, Disney and the fifth part of initially underground horror-thriller series “Saw”.

The bouncy musical managed to collect $82 million in ticket revenues worldwide, of which $42 million came from North America alone. The success of the movie was surprising to those who were specialists in analyzing the box office trends over the years, especially since this third installment was a feature film that followed the first two movies which were television films. Considering the incomes and massive popularity of the franchise, it seems that not many people missed the movies and its reruns on the Disney Channel. The success also bodes well for Disney, which gained advertising during a harsh economic crisis.

“Saw V” came in an honorable second at the box office – well, perhaps not that honorable given that one of the most fascinating, intriguing and well-designed stories came after a teen musical that may be attractive for children aged 6-14. It’s a known fact that you can make just so many sequels to a horror movie before they inevitably flop. This was true for “Friday the 13th”, “Halloween” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.

Crossovers are interesting in theory and may have an interesting plot (“Freddy vs. Jason” was bad, but could have been a lot worse) and space-based sequels are bound to flop – did anyone really enjoy “Jason X”? The “Saw” franchise seems to be breaking this rule, as it still made a whopping $30.5 million in North America and $6 in the rest of the world. “Max Payne”, based on a video game, came in third, while “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” and “Pride and Glory” took the fourth and fifth spots.