By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The North American summer moviegoing season officially closed on a scary note on Monday as the horror sequel "Jeepers Creepers 2" scored a record opening for the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend.

The low-budget film earned about $18.5 million in the four days since opening on Friday, beating the old Labor Day record -- held by its 2001 predecessor -- of $15.8 million.

The champ for the previous two weekends, another horror franchise, "Freddy vs. Jason," slid to No. 7 with $8.1 million in its third round. Its total rose to $73.4 million.

The $101 million weekend haul for the top 12 films set a Labor Day holiday record, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, beating the 2001 mark of $94 million.

Ticket sales for summer -- traditionally the most lucrative season at the box office -- reached a record $3.27 billion, smashing 1999's mark of $2.99 billion. Business was inflated by higher ticket prices.

The number of tickets sold was 542.3 million, only the fourth highest in movie history. Summer officially begins in Hollywood on the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which this year fell from May 23 to 26.

The summer began briskly with such films as "Bruce Almighty" and "Finding Nemo," but was then hit by underperformers like "The Hulk" and "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle." The horror movies and the Jamie Lee Curtis (news) comedy "Freaky Friday" fueled a late upsurge.

'FREAKY' REACHES $90 MILLION

On this weekend's chart, "Freaky Friday" rose two places into the number two spot and earned $11.7 million in its fourth weekend. Its haul rose to $90 million.

"S.W.A.T." fell one place to No. 3 with $10.5 million. With a four-week total of $102.4 million, the cop thriller was one of four films to cross the century mark this weekend. The others were "Seabiscuit," "The Italian Job" and "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle."

Two films tied at No. 4, both with $10.2 million: the Kevin Costner (news) Western "Open Range" and the Johnny Depp (news) swashbuckler "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." Their respective totals rose to $42.9 million and $274.4 million.

"Jeepers Creepers 2" was released by United Artists, the art house unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc . "Freddy vs. Jason" was released by New Line Cinema, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc . "S.W.A.T." was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites) . "Freaky Friday," "Open Range" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" were all Walt Disney Co. films.

Writer/director Victor Salva's "Jeepers Creepers 2," which revolves around a group of high schoolers terrorized by a winged monster, cost about $17 million to make. United Artists paid just $8 million for North American and some foreign rights, and expects the film to be very profitable.

The original film finished with $38 million, and the sequel could reach the mid-$40 million range, said Erik Lomis, MGM's president of domestic theatrical distribution.

"The fact that 'Freddy vs. Jason' opened so big ($36.4 million) helped us, because it whetted everybody's appetite for horror," Lomis said.

Two-thirds of the audience for the R-rated film was aged between 17 and 25, according to MGM's exit polling.

While "Jeepers Creepers 2" was the only wide new release, Paramount Pictures re-released its late May entry "The Italian Job" across North America to push it past the century mark. The heist thriller jumped 29 places to No. 12 with a four-day sum of $3.8 million and a total of $100.8 million. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. .

1. Jeepers Creepers 2 .......... $18,365,222

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $18,365,222

2. Freaky Friday .......... $12,602,252

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $90,844,347

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl .......... $10,818,785

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $275,018,547

4. S.W.A.T. .......... $10,780,295

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $102,702,416

5. Open Range .......... $10,748,196

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $43,482,974

6. Seabiscuit .......... $9,061,030

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $104,645,915

7. Freddy vs. Jason .......... $8,660,070

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $73,944,569

8. The Medallion .......... $6,210,244

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $16,867,389

9. Uptown Girls .......... $5,607,007

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,426,760

10. American Wedding .......... $4,760,255

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $97,694,355

John L.: The Summer Fiscal Season has a come to an end and for the second time in 2 years, a convicted child molester, Victor Salva  , has directed the number one film in America. He has done his time, but he still likes to tease the audience with his own personal fetishes. More on this in my review of Jeepers Creepers 2. It was an odd Summer with several movies grossing more than $100 million and a record amount crossing the $200 million mark, but there were many disappointments as well. Matrix Reloaded was supposed to run through the Summer and gross at least $300 million easily, but it struggled to get to $270 million and was not as well received as most hoped it would be. Finding Nemo is the best movie released this year and turned into an event film. It has outgrossed every Albert Brooks and Ellen Degeneres movie twice combined. Gigli was the film to goof on just because it is fun to say Bennifer. The Tomb Raider movie and its video game counterpart failed to excite the masses and it has probably doomed the franchise. I see a recast in the future, maybe J-Lo. Only the X-Men held up its end of the superhero onslaught (no relation to the comic book villain) we had this summer. The League and The Hulk were not what people expected. Both movies left openings for sequels, but it will take quite the pitch to get some studio to finance them. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back as da Derminata, and was fairly successful. It became his most popular film since True Lies. Politics is his thing now, and unless he loses the California Governor recall election, a T-4: Rise of the Humans seems doubtful. The little horse that could, Seabiscuit, is my choice of sleeper hit of the Summer as it was the rare adult level film that did not have to be perverted. It's an all ages acceptable film, that has serious drama. Next to Nemo, it is up there as one of the best films of the year that could get Best Picture Oscar notice. I would rate the May 1st through September 1 time at the movies as a solid 3 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B; thumbs up. Finding Nemo, Seabiscuit, 28 Days Later, Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines are my favorite movies of the summer. The worst film of the summer goes to Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. It was so bad, it made every other film I saw look fantastic. I can't even add another movie to the list since SPK3D's stench is so offputting. I'd rather see Gigli 2 or House of a 1001 Corpses. The fall season has some interesting flicks, but it is all about the King in December. Anything else will have to wait.

I was very disappointed in the first Jeepers Creepers film. The premise of that was that there is this creature that shows up every 23 years around springtime and for 23 days is allowed to eat. Eat what? Human flesh I guess. Why it can or is allowed to do this was never explained, and isn't in the new film, Jeepers Creepers 2. Despite the weaknesses of the JC franchise, there are some interesting things that keep me and the general public coming back. The Creeper is a genuinely cool and scary creation that has a hint of a fascinating back story that writer/director/boy lover Victor Salva refuses to explain. You wait and wait and wait for that moment when someone says "before Columbus, before Jesus, before the pyramids, before everything, there was just The Creeper. Evil's protector of sin. The Creeper whispered in the snake's ear and told him to bug Eve. Humankind's fear feeds it's hunger as well as humankind's flesh." You know, something, anything that establishes a reason why the audience should care what this thing does. All of the classic and modern favorites of horror had some motivation. Dracula had to drink blood because he's a vampire, Larry Talbot became a wolf during a full moon, Jason was drowned as a kid and takes revenge on those who remind him of that trauma, Freddy was a child molesting (no relation to Vick) freak who was killed and can only attack people through their dreams, plus his mother was raped. Revealing all of the origins of the Creeper is not necessary, but we need more than this 23 years, 23 days thing, especially for a sequel. After coming out of this movie, I know less than I did coming in since the powers of the Creeper get more inconsistent with each sequence. His strength varies as well as his weaknesses. It would seem that nothing can kill it, but if it is too damaged to rejuvenate, what then? The movie starts out pretty well as it is about 3 days after the end of the first film. The main survivor of that movie is no where to be found, and is never mentioned. The main victim, however, does return in dream sequences to warn of impending doom. Not following through on the ending of the first movie is very bad writing and it the film should never have been made if that was not addressed. It is day 22 of the Creepers hunger and he is hanging out in the corn fields of Jack Taggart (Ray Wise). Creeper feeds, and becomes the enemy of Taggart who then prepares to take the Creeper out by any means necessary. As Taggart prepares his attack, a school bus of high school basketball players is coming back from a State Championship game that they had just won. It is full of young fresh meat for Vic to, I mean for the Creeper to feast on at its leisure on its last day before its hibernation. Once the bus breaks down, the Creeper spends the rest of the time attacking the bus and anyone dumb enough to stick their head out a window or step outside. What a waste of time. By having the movie be all about this bus attack, you never get any insight into anything. Various students have their little quirks like are they gay, nerdy, racist, psychic, blah, blah, bleh. The dialogue spoken to "develop" these characters to get you to care about them is terrible. You wish for the Creeper to just get it over with, but it seems to take forever for it to attack. The strength, and I hate to praise it, of the first film is that it had some focus by being about the brother and sister. The final fate of one of them was so dramatic that it polarized everyone who saw it. You found yourself actually rooting for the good guys to win and find a way to defeat the Creeper. Not in this movie. Ray Wise is the closest thing since his motivation is clear, but all of the other crap with the basketball team is so lame, you even hope Wise gets eaten as well. Having the movie take place on day 22 and 23 of the cycle is stupid as well since it limits the suspense of how this will turn out. Storywise, it seems as if there were about 6 different scripts laying around and Salva picked the one that would expose the most man chest as the team likes to take their shirts off a lot and in one Creeper attack that rips a guys head off, for some reason, his shirt is removed as well. The director needs to pull back on these images because of his troubled real life past. I will say that the Creeper effects and some of its actions are scary. When it is sitting on the scarecrow cross and turns its head to look at a potential victim, you get creeped out. His trenchcoat and hat look that hides his body and face also builds tension well and is much cooler than when it is fully exposed. The flying effects are overly stylized, but effective. He looks a like a superhero more than a demon when it flies. See the movie only to marvel at the special effects. There is potential here for a good story, but there has to be an effort there to tell it. Looking at the box office, people want to know more. This movie doesn't give us more than a higher makeup budget. If a third movie is made, and it probably will be, the origin must be told. Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 out of 10; C; thumbs down.

1. It is freaky how Freaky Friday has jumped up the box office list with a small chance of actually hitting the number one spot if next week's movies tank.

2. The pirates are on there way to soon surpass Matrix Reloaded for the number two spot of highest grossing movies of the year.

3. Believe it or not, there is even a miniscule chance that the Black Pearl gang could overtake Finding Nemo.

4. S. W. A. T. has done it's job and become a success despite the fact of its mediocrity.

5. Open Range is quickly becoming the most popular Kevin Costner movie since The Bodyguard.

6. Fortunately, Gary Stevens, co-star of Seabiscuit has recovered from his real life horse racing injuries and should return to work soon.

7. Jason vs Freddy is now the most successful movie ever to star these chararacters.

8. Jackie Chan always does better at the box office teaming up with guys like Owen Wilson and Chris Tucker instead of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Claire Forlani.

9. Uptown Girls is headed downtown into the bad end of the top 10.

10. American Wedding is struggling to outgross the first American Pie, and it will do it, but not while it is in this top ten list.

The box office continues to stagger as Dickie Roberts and The Order try to topple the Creeper and Jamie Lee Curtis' air guitar. Bye for now.