Weekend Box Office: October 22-24

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Paranormal Activity 2 - $41.5 million

2.  Jackass 3D - $21.6 million

3.  Red - $15 million

4.  Hereafter - $12 million

5.  The Social Network - $7.3 million

6.  Secretariat - $6.9 million

7.  Life as We Know It - $6.1 million

8.  Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole - $3.1 million

9.  The Town - $2.7 million

10.  Easy A - $1.7 million

 So...Paranormal Activity 3, anyone?  Let's just assume now that it's in the works because Paranormal Activity 2 blasted past expectations this weekend, opening with $41.5 million.  That surpasses the original film's $21 million opening from last year and it now becomes the highest 3-day opening for a horror movie ever.  True, it made half of that opening gross on Friday with just over $20 million (it dropped 35% on Saturday), which means it's incredibly frontloaded, but with an estimated budget of about $3 million, this is a monster hit for Paramount.

Despite a steep 57% drop from last weekend, Paramount should still be happy with business for Jackass 3D, which earned another $21.6 million to bring its total gross up to $87 million (which is the highest for the entire Jackass franchise), and should pass the $100 million fairly easily.  It was also a good second weekend for Red, which dropped only 31% to earn another $15 million.  The action comedy has now grossed $43 million.

This weekend's other new release, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, had an okay opening of $12 million.  It should hold up for the next few weekends, especially amongst older audiences, but it did receive a "C" Cinemascore rating, which is not a good sign.  David Fincher's The Social Network is slowing down a bit, landing in fifth place with $7.3 million. 

The rest of the top ten are holdovers from previous weeks, nothing unexpected going on there.  Secretariat seems to be going for a photo finish with Life as We Know It, with both films right around the $37 million mark. 

Halloween next week brings the alleged final entry in the Saw franchise, which is hoping not to repeat last year's embarassing shellacking it took at the hands of Paranormal Activity.  And it shouldn't have a problem, since Paranormal 2 will most likely take a dive next weekend.  Stay turned.