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In one of the rarest of rare occurrences, a movie in its fifth week of release finally clawed its way to the top of the box office. Paramount pushed Paranormal Activity into over a thousand new theaters and the gamble paid off handsomely as the horror sleeper raked in $22M ($62.4M) to easily win the weekend. Torture porn shit-show Saw VI endured a brutal debut as it pulled in a weak $14.8M (yay!) while last week's champ Where the Wild Things Are stumbled a bit in its second weekend ($14.4M | $53.9M). The formulaic Law Abiding Citizen ($12.7M | $40.3M) and the half-funny Couples Retreat ($11M | $78.2M) rounded out the top 5.
Japanese manga-something Astro Boy opened weakly ($7M) as it just managed to top the mediocre The Stepfather ($6.5M | $20.3M). Cirque du Freak came in well below expectations in its first frame ($6.3M) as it failed to scare up much of the moronic Twilight audience. The resilient Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($5.6M | $115.2M) and the goofy-fun Zombieland ($4.3M | $67.3M) rounded out the top 10, just ahead of the brutally disappointing Amelia ($4M) (no Oscar for Hilary this time). In limited release, Antichrist did excellent business ($12,250 per theater), while (Untitled) was solid ($6367) and Motherhood was dreadful ($1202).
