Weekend Receipts: Paranormal Activity 3 Notches Abnormally Big Premiere

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Some of us were too busy this weekend taking in Martha Marcy May Marlene and Margin Call to bother with such plebeian fare as Paranormal Activity 3, but I suppose I'll acknowledge the found footage thriller's big feat this weekend: Not only did it jazz up a comatose box office, it also notched the highest opening ever for a horror movie. Fancy! Click through for all the notable grosses and help me lament Johnny English's stateside downfall.

1. Paranormal Activity

Gross: $54,020,000

Screens: 3,321

Weeks: 1

Other facts about this bank-breaker: It's the highest opening since July's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and it opened bigger than Paranormal Activity 2, which is an anomaly in terms of sequel grosses. Otherwise? It's not a particularly well-reviewed film and we should all start thinking about MANSON-LIKE CULTS WITH DOWNTRODDEN OLSENS IN THEM. Just a hint.

2. Real Steel

Gross: $11,319,000 ($67,226,640)

Screens: 3,412

Weeks: 3

People keep seeing Real Steel, and it's time we come to terms with it. I'll justify it this way: The combination of a gritty underworld and emotional robots is just like that great new Rihanna video "We Found Love." Drugs! Rihanna's robo-whine! Rihanna is the closest thing we have to a sign of the robot apocalypse. Anyway, "We Found Love" just needs Hugh Jackman's stoic stare and it's looking at a $70 million gross.

3. Footloose

Gross: $10,850,000 ($30,863,031)

Screens: 3,555

Weeks: 2

Footloose is scaring up some decent reviews for being a by-the-book rehashing and a formulaic morality tale. Everything you need to know about Footloose can be gleaned in the video for Big and Rich's "Fake ID," which takes place during one of the movie's key hootenannies. Boots-a-bustlin'.

4. The Three Musketeers

Gross: $8,800,000

Screens: 3,017

Weeks: 1

Logan Lerman, please cue up your nervous giggles, because this is an unsightly total. Apparently Orlando Bloom's fighter mettle, Christoph Waltz's ravishing cardinal costume, and 3-D swashbuckler gymnastics weren't enough to win an eight-figure receipt. More like Alexander Doom-as!

5. The Ides of March

Gross: $4,900,000

Screens: 2,042

Weeks: 3

CHALLENGE: Rank the six lead performances in this movie worst to best. Here I go: 6) Evan Rachel Wood, 5) Ryan Gosling, 4) George Clooney, 3) Philip Seymour Hoffman, 2) Paul Giamatti, 1) Marisa Tomei. Guys, Marisa killed it. I hate that the movie's title is a pun on her character's name (Ida), but Tomei's performance as a persistent, but fair NYT journalist makes this movie's drama seem plenty more credible than its politicians.

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8. Johnny English Reborn

Gross: $3,800,000

Screens: 1,552

Weeks: 1

Either Rowan Atkinson isn't a draw to American audiences (since his new movie finished behind weeks-old features Moneyball and Dolphin Tale), or we're all just jilted that Natalie Imbruglia didn't return for the Johnny English sequel. "Wishing I Was There" with her, indeed.



Comments

  • zach says:

    what the hell kind of comment about 'real steel' is that? at least try and keep it somewhere related to film and not referencing a song you don't like. budget vs. gross? overseas gross? per screen average? none of that? just a reference to a top 10 single...ok...

  • Louis Virtel says:

    Lol I know.

  • Morgo says:

    Puns on character names in the title is my pet peeve. The character names are made up! It's not clever! Why do people keep doing this? (If I find out her name is Ida March, I swear I will never watch this movie)

  • Morgo says:

    Oh my second, lesser pet peeve is movie titles that reference shakespeare. Seems to be the go-to literary source for people who can't title with flair

  • Morgo says:

    you can go to other sites for that sort of boredom. movieline does box office with more panache, to make it interesting for those of us who aren't humourless geeks.

  • zach says:

    thanks, margo. and im sorry for you if you think straining to connect a bad movie about robots to a song that's on the radio right now is good reporting and "doing it with panache". i dont like justin beiber, can you write it into 'the ides of march' numbers for me somehow? thank you.