Weekend Box Office: October 28-30

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly:

1.  Puss in Boots - $34 million

2.  Paranormal Activity 3 - $18.5 million

3.  In Time - $12 million

4.  Footloose - $5.4 million

5.  The Rum Diary - $5 million

6.  Real Steel - $4.7 million

7.  The Three Musketeers - $3.5 million

8.  The Ides of March - $2.7 million

9.  Moneyball - $2.4 million

10.  Courageous - $1.8 million

I'll bet no one expected a freak snowstorm to be affecting the Northeast during the last weekend in October, but that's exactly what happened this weekend, although this Halloween weekend seemed fairly slow at the box office regardless.  Dreamworks' Shrek spin-off, Puss In Boots, opened with an estimated $34 million, just barely beating Saw III's $33.6 million in 2003 to claim the Halloween box office record.  Still, with a budget reportedly over $100 million, Puss in Boots may have the same kind of problems Real Steel (which drops to 6th place this week) is having making that money back.  However, it should hold up well with the family crowd until The Muppets and Happy Feet 2 open next month.

Meanwhile, horror fans seemed to get their Paranormal Activity rush out of their systems last week, as the third film in the ever-growing franchise dropped a whopping (but expected) 65% to earn $18.5 million.  Although, with a reported $5 million budget, we'll be seeing a fourth film for sure by this time next year.  Hell, they can even save money by making a film out of everything from the trailers that didn't make it into this movie (in other words, the entire trailer).   

Yet it was better to be a descending horror movie than any of the other new releases this weekend, as sci-fi thriller In Time floundered with just $12 million.  The weekend wasn't great for Johnny Depp either, as The Rum Diary tanked with only $5 million.  The remake of Footloose continues to make money for some reason, that film finished the weekend in fourth place with another $5.4 million.

The holiday season kicks off next weekend with the releases of A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (in 3D!) and the Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy comedy Tower Heist.  Happy Halloween, everyone!