For weeks, the box office has felt fairly … dispirited. Oh, sure, we’ve dutifully reported the weekly winners in this space every Monday, but let’s face facts: Some of these high-profile films were making less than Lady Gaga spends on fake bone protuberances. The movie scene seemed a little, um, dead.
Or at least it was dead—until some serious Paranormal Activity started happening.
Paranormal Activity 3, the latest chapter in the pseudo home-movie horror genre, screamed into theaters with $54 million. That sets a new record for a September or October opening and marked the biggest take for a straight horror flick. Take that, Saw.
The rest of the box-office tally looked pretty frightening too, but in an altogether different way. Despite Paranormal Activity’s record weekend, the film industry as a whole actually grossed less than it did the same weekend last year—thanks largely to some seriously shaky newcomers.
The Three Musketeers—the 1,694th cinematic movie, give or take, based on of Alexandre Dumas’ novel of the same name—appears to have accidentally jabbed itself in the foot: It earned just $8.8 million, finishing behind Real Steel (which earned another $11.3 million) and Footloose ($10.85 million).
But at least our swashbuckling swordsmen have bragging rights over Johnny English Reborn—a title that seems dismally ironic, considering how lifeless English looked at the box office. The James Bond spoof earned $3.8 million—barely enough to buy an Aston Martin.
But what of The Mighty Macs, the sweet, Christian-tinged sports movie that dribbled into theaters this weekend? Alas, it barely made more than $1 million to land in 14th place. These underdogs might’ve been winners on the court, but couldn’t keep up with the big boys in theaters.
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