LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two of Hollywood's most infamous villains joined forces over the weekend to scare moviegoers and shock studio executives with a surprisingly strong No. 1 opening at the North American box office.

"Freddy Vs. Jason," a low-budget teen thriller, sold an estimated $36.4 million worth of tickets in its first three days since opening on Aug. 15, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday. Going into the weekend, industry observers had forecast a bow in the $20 million range.

Last weekend's champion, the cop action movie "S.W.A.T.," slipped to a distant No. 2 with $18.6 million, taking its 10-day haul to $70.1 million.

The top-five contained two other new releases. "Open Range," a Western directed by and starring Kevin Costner, opened at No. 3 with a solid $14.1 million. The female-targeted comedy "Uptown Girls," starring Brittany Murphy, launched at No. 5 with $11.2 million, also a promising start for a film that cost less than $20 million to make.

In between, the Jamie Lee Curtis role-reversal comedy "Freaky Friday" slipped two places to No. 4 with $13.1 million in its second weekend. The 12-day total for the critically acclaimed film rose to $57.9 million.

With a somewhat lethargic summer box office nearing an end, weekend ticket sales for the top-12 movies totaled about $132 million, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The tally represents a 3.6 percent increase over last weekend, and a 33.2 percent surge from the year-ago period, when "XXX" was tops for a second round with $22 million.

"Freddy Vs. Jason," which has been in development since 1994, stars series veteran Robert Englund and newcomer Ken Kirzinger as the bad guys from two creaky horror franchises: respectively, Freddy Krueger of "Nightmare on Elm Street" and Jason Voorhees of "Friday the 13th." They join forces to terrorize teens and then each other. Ronny Yu directed the film, which cost about $30 million to make.

"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 (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites) .

"Open Range" was released by Touchstone Pictures, and "Freaky Friday" by Walt Disney Pictures, both units of Walt Disney Co . "Uptown Girls" was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. .

1. Freddy vs. Jason .......... $36,428,066

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $36,428,066

2. S.W.A.T. .......... $18,122,486

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $69,672,843

3. Open Range .......... $14,047,781

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $14,047,781

4. Freaky Friday .......... $13,434,285

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $58,416,557

5. Uptown Girls .......... $11,277,367

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,277,367

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl .......... $9,167,599

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $248,720,985

7. American Wedding .......... $8,402,760

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $80,856,345

8. Seabiscuit .......... $8,087,670

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $83,012,545

9. Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over .......... $5,288,540

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $96,893,935

10. Bad Boys II .......... $3,143,914

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $128,856,716

John L.: Was the wait worth it? Did the world really need it? In this day and age of tragedy beyond comprehension, was this effort in excess absolutely necessary? After the Postman, I was sure Kevin Costner would never be allowed to direct a movie again, but he has. Open Range seems to be getting positive reviews, and may have a chance of sticking around for a while in the top 10. Uptown Girls also opened to a fairly decent box office haul, and is Brittany Murphy's first big starring role where she has to carry the film. I just wish screenwriters would stop naming their scripts after pop tunes. You don't want to drive Billy Joel to drink anymore than he does now. Freddy vs Jason finally came out after being teased at the end of Friday the 13th Part 9: Jason Goes to Hell. Looking at it's first weekend's total, a lot of folks have been looking forward to this with many audience members not having been born when the first installments of Friday and Nightmare were released in 1980 and 1984 respectively. Full review to follow.

Unlike most normal people, I am a huge fan of the slasher movie genre when it includes an unstoppable psychopath. I cannot explain their appeal because to do so makes you sound like you should be locked up. "Oh, I just love the innovative ways guys like Freddy and Jason torture and maim their victims. It's just so funny to see a guy beheaded or sliced in half with a machete." I have seen all of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies. There is even an overview of both franchises buried somewhere on my website. Here is the link, if you want to read it. The initial interest in these types of films is to be scared. The first four Fridays and the first Elm Street were scary. They played it straight and did not throw any of that self aware corny humor that has been so popular over the last 10 10 years. Also, back then, you did not root for the killers to succeed all of the time. The virginal babe who is the only one left standing is one of the greater character creations in the last 30 years. The slasher movie has always been this metaphor for STDs. You have sex, you die. You don't have sex, you will live.. a while longer. After Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter and A Nightmare on Elm Street (Part 1), things changed. The movies had become so predictable that the only scary parts were the false scares when cats jumped through windows or generic boyfriend #2 would touch the shoulder of nice girl #4 and the music would go "bong!" Fear was no longer an option in horror movies because it had become too intense. The audience needs humor to lessen the terror. Because of that humorous additive, the horror movie has not existed since about 1985. They were replaced by the psychological thrillers like Silence of the Lambs and Seven. Those more serious movies were very successful while the jokey, ha ha, boo, just kidding stuff of Freddy and Jason had diminishing returns. After Elm Street 4 and Friday the 13th 7, no one seemed to care about the new adventures. Freddy's Dead was 3 dimensions of crap, and Jason may as well have gone to Heaven since continuity between the films had ended by that point. Not even the producers cared. This brings us to Freddy vs Jason the movie. It sort of uses the real life plot of people forgetting about them and no longer fearing their presence. Their powers are weakened to near obsolescence. In the movie, Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), the bastard son of a 100 maniacs who molested children until he was burned to death by the parents of Springwood, wants to return to his malevolent ways. Freddy picks up where he left off at the end of Elm Street 6, in Hell. Elm Streen 7, A New Nightmare is sort of forgotten or considered a lost adventure. I suggest forgetting it existed. The only way for Kruger to return to the dream world to scare kids is for them to remember him and fear him again. To do that he reaches down deep to find an untapped power, resurrecting the dead. This is where the movie picks up from the end of Jason Goes to Hell when Kruger grabbed the Jason hockey mask and took it to hell. Almost like voodoo, he is able to bring Jason (Ken Kirzinger) back to the real world. This movie takes place before Jason X I guess. Jason's mission will be to kill some Springwood, USA teenagers and make them think Freddy is back, and after a few good slashings, Kruger will send Jason back to his Hell home, and Fred will continue the onslaught. Of course everything goes wrong on his side, Jason's side, and the side of the teenagers trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Freddy vs Jason is not a great movie, especially in terms of the acting of the lead heroes, Kelly Rowland and Lori Campbell. Their characters get too much screen time for the lack of effort they put into their work. Jason Ritter is the only guy that comes out of this with any respect for the craft. All of that though is just time filler as the reason people want to see this flick, is to watch Mr. Kruger and Mr. Vorhees throw down. Throw down they do as there are 2 protracted battles between the two, one in the dream world, Freddy's turf, and the other at Crystal Lake, Jason's crib. This is no 2 minutes patty cake fest. These two go full throttle with many a limb to be severed in the process. The question that everyone asks is who wins, or if you won't answer that, is there a decisive winner. I will say this. There is a winner, but you are dealing with 2 characters who are immortal, so they both will live to fight another day regardless of who is left standing. Time was taken to actually fill out some of the backstory of Jason and Freddy like Freddy's child attack, and how Jason drowned oh so many years ago. Continuity between the series is also apparent as there are direct links made between Springwood and Crystal Lake. The coincidences are a little too much though, but I like the effort. This is a better movie than any of the ones done in the 1990s and even goes old school with a classic skinny dipping moment that was greatly appreciated by the theater audience. If you have seen any of the early Fridays or Elm Streets, then check this one out. It has it's dumb moments, but the fight scenes are well done. I am still a fan. Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; C+; thumbs up. Remember, it's Freddy vs Jason, not King Lear vs Hamlet.

1. SWAT 2 should be SWAT vs the Marines from Aliens with the Predators and Aliens as lumberjacks surrounding the ring..

2. Open Range vs The Postman vs Waterworld in a 3 way dance.

3. Freaky Friday 2003 vs Freaky Friday (1976) in the Accused Bar.

4. Uptown Girls vs next week's The Boss's Daughter with special guest referee Demi Moore and guest ring announcer Mila Kunis.

5. Special color commentary for the Uptown Girls battle, done by Sean Penn's character from I am Sam and Jonathan Lipnicki.

6. Jack Sparrow vs Edward Scissorhands in a steel cage match to the death.

7. Steve Stifler vs Jeff Spicoli vs Bluto Blutarsky vs John Bender (who?) in a fatal four-way elimination style barb wire match in a pile of pig poo.

8. Seabiscuit vs the Black Stallion in a game of horseshoes where you can also use them as weapons.

9. Spy Kids vs Bugsy Malone in a paintball battle.

10. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in a tag team match against Mel Gibson and Danny Glover with Jada Pinkett Smith going to Mel and Danny if they win, and Rene Russo going to Smith and Lawrence if they win.

That is all for this week. Next week there are more movies released, none of which look all that promising. Looks like I may have to bring back my Video Nose Pick of the Week. Bye for now.