After some truly disappointing weekends at the box office for horror movies (Hatchet 2, Pirahna 3D, Let Me In, My Soul to Take) fans can finally breathe easy that the genre is alive and well. Paranormal Activity 2 catapulted to the top of the pack this weekend, and easily exceeded expectations to earn around $41M.
That was good enough to shatter a few records. The movie broke the opening weekend record previously held by the 2009 Friday the 13th reboot in 2009. It also made a cool $6.3M on Thursday midnight showings.
In comparison, Paranormal Activity made about $21M over its opening weekend.
Jackass 3D managed to claim the number two slot. The film tumbled over 57% from last weekend, but still made an impressive $21.6M. Its two week total is now over $87M.
Comedy/Drama/Thriller Red only dropped 31%, and added $15M to its two week cumulative of $43M.
Clint Eastwood’s ethereal after-life drama made about $12M. That might sound paltry, but it only played on about 2,100 screens, and had an okay per/screen average of $5,500, which puts it in the top three per/screen averages for the weekend. The film came in number four for the overall box office.
However, audience reaction was lukewarm. The film skewed older, and received a very mediocre “C+” from Cinemascore.
The Social Network continues to enjoy a slow burn at the box office. Once again, the film only dropped around 29%. After four weeks in release, that is not an easy task. The film has made $72M, with a reported budget of around $50M.
Of course, Secretariat and Legends of the Guardians both enjoyed low drops as well. Secretariat is in its 3rd week, and Legends of the Guardians is in its 5th.
Next week, Paranormal Activity 2 goes head to head with Saw 3D. What are your predictions?
