Weekend Box Office - October 21-23

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Paranormal Activity 3 - $54 million

2.  Real Steel - $11.3 million

3.  Footloose - $10.8 million

4.  The Three Musketeers - $8.8 million

5.  The Ides of March - $4.9 million

6.  Dolphin Tale - $4.2 million

7.  Moneyball - $4 million

8.  Johnny English Reborn - $3.8 million

9.  The Thing - $3.1 million

10.  50/50 - $2.8 million

So I think it goes without saying that at this time next year, we'll be writing a similar article about Paranormal Activity 4. 

Defying the rule that all horror movie franchises dwindle at the box office with every sequel, Paranormal Activity 3 ruled the box office big time this weekend, earning a franchise-best $54 million.  The found-footage thriller (which I will always thank for finally beating down the Saw franchise) started strong out of the gate, earning $8 million at midnight screenings to go on to $26 million on Friday alone.  Obviously, it's totally front-loaded, but with a reported $5 million budget, it's already made its money back nearly 10 times over.  Even more than that, when you count in the $26 million it made overseas as well.

So again, we'll be seeing another Paranormal Activity movie this time next year, that's for sure.

The weekend's other new releases paled in comparison, with Johnny English Reborn outright flopping with just $3.8 million, and The Three Musketeers only generating a mild interest with $8.8 million.  Both have done gangbusters overseas - with Three Musketeers already earning $64 million, and Johnny English earning $104 million. 

Second and third place looked almost like a repeat of last weekend, as Real Steel took second with $11.3 million, and the Footloose remake taking third with $10.8 million.  Both only dropped 30% from last week, so they remained a fairly popular destination for audiences this weekend (yes, even Footloose).  The remake of The Thing, however was not popular at all.  That dropped 63% from last weekend. 

Next weekend should be a good one for Puss in Boots (admit it, this is hilarious), and will also see the releases of Johnny Depp's The Rum Diary, as well as the Shakespeare-was-a-fraud thriller Anonymous.