Opening day: 'Final Destination' scares up bigger Friday than 'Halloween,' 'Basterds'

What looked like a close weekend at the box office is shaping up to be an easy victory for "The Final Destination," as the fourth movie in Warner Bros.' horror series easily beat the competition Friday.

Helped by the 53% of its theaters that played the movie in 3-D, with higher ticket prices, "The Final Destination" sold a studio-estimated $10.9 million worth of tickets Friday. Based on the performance of previous "Destination" pictures, the movie should earn close to $30 million this weekend, well ahead of expectations based on pre-release polling that had put it closer to $20 million.

Weinstein Co.'s "Halloween II," meanwhile, earned a respectable $7.6 million on Friday. Because hard-core horror movies often do a disproportionate amount of business on their opening day, "Halloween II" is probably headed for a weekend gross just under $20 million.

"Inglourious Basterds" fell 59% from its opening Friday a week ago to $5.9 million. If daily drops for the rest of the weekend are smaller, as is typical, it will probably decline about 50% for the weekend and be in tight competition with "Halloween II" for the No. 2 spot at the box office.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: Bobby Campo and Shantel VanSanten in "The Final Destination." Credit: Jim Sheldon / New Line Cinema

First pictures of 'Saul Tigh' on 'Warehouse 13'

Syfy loves nothing more than grabbing actors from one of the network's shows to appear in another of its programs. Hence the "Battlestar Galactica" and "Eureka" actors who are frequently stopping by the kooky warehouse of mysterious objects (stars Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelley are picture in the picture below at left).

Here are the first pictures of Michael Hogan, who memorably played Saul Tigh on "Battlestar," in his role as Myka's father on "Warehouse 13" (he's wearing the blue shirt in the first two pictures here). Hogan's episode airs Sept. 15 and it's called "Nevermore."

I'm trying to get an updated episode summary from Syfy, but this is what May press release said about Hogan's episode: The actor "portrays Myka's father Warren Bering, who receives a dangerous object anonymously in the mail which puts his life in jeopardy."

Hogan also appears in the second episode of "Dollhouse's" second season. For more on his appearance on the Joss Whedon show, look here.

Mark Sheppard, a.k.a. "Battlestar's" Romo Lampkin, appears as "Mr. Valda" in the Sept. 8 "Warehouse 13" episode, "Breakdown." Mr. Valda is "the enigmatic representative of the Regents, the mysteriousorganization that controls Warehouse 13. He disapproves of Artie'smethods as the team leader of the Warehouse, and isn't afraid to lethim know it."

As you may already be aware, thanks to the Mark Sheppard Full Employment Act of 2009, all scripted TV shows are, by law, required to hire this versatile actor. Showrunners, contact SAG to learn the full details. (I caught up with Sheppard before a "Middleman" panel at San Diego Comic-Con, here's the result.)

Speaking of Sheppard, he turns up again in a fun USA series, "White Collar," which debuts in October.

As long as we're on the topic of "Warehouse 13" and its guest stars, Tricia Helfer from "Battlestar" has already guested on the show, which premiered in July. Erica Cerra from "Eureka" and Joe Flanigan from "Stargate Atlantis" have also put in appearances. Joe Morton from "Eureka" appears in the Sept. 1 episode, and C.C.H. Pounder ("The Shield") has a recurring role.

So far I think of "Warehouse 13" as more of a nice diversion than must-see TV; there's a pleasant banter between the two leads and Saul Rubinek is great as Artie, but so far I'm not as wholly hooked as I have been by, say, USA's "Burn Notice" or Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva," a couple of fun summer shows that eventually turned into addictions. I do think well of "Warehouse 13," but it doesn't have the emotional pull that those shows have developed, but I'm certainly willing to see if "W13" develops that kind of hook.

Still, with guest stars like these -- I'm a major fan of Pounder, who should be as ubiquitous as Sheppard -- I guess there is an element of "must" when it comes to these upcoming episodes.

Especially when it comes to Saul Tigh.

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