Box office victory was a foregone conclusion for Paranormal Activity 3 this weekend, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted that it would do quite this well. Building on the huge success of the previous two installments, the third film in the found footage series brought home an astounding $54 million domestically and $80 million worldwide, setting a new fall record and a new record for horror movies in general. Clearly it didn’t hurt that there were few other horror movies in theatres to compete for the Halloween crowds (The Thing plummeted to #9) and, in particular, no new Saw movies. Considering that part 3 cost just $5 million to make, I think it’s safe to say that this franchise is going to be around for a few more sequels. Elsewhere Real Steel fell to #2 and Footloose dropped to #3, while The Three Musketeers had a weak debut with just $8.8 million and Johnny English Reborn outright bombed with $3.8 million. Bring back Mr. Bean!

1. Paranormal Activity 3 — $54M
2. Real Steel — $11.3M
3. Footloose — $10.8M
4. The Three Musketeers — $8.8M
5. The Ides of March –$4.9M
6. Dolphin Tale –$4.2M
7. Moneyball — $4.05M
8. Johnny English Reborn — $3.8M
9. The Thing –$3.11M
10. 50/50 –$2.83M