Home > Action Adventure > ‘Puss In Boots’ Tops Halloween Weekend ‘Paranormal Activity 3′ Drops 65% For 2nd Place

30 October, 2011 at 5:59 pm

‘Puss In Boots’ Tops Halloween Weekend ‘Paranormal Activity 3′ Drops 65% For 2nd Place

On a Halloween weekend, you’d have expected ‘Paranormal Activity 3‘ to have cleaned up rather than drop 64%, but instead Dreamworks ‘Puss In Boots’ took in a record setting $34 million.

Who would’ve thought a family film would take a weekend reserved for scares, but with a combination of an East Coast blizzard, plus Halloween parties, Dreamworks showed some life in their ‘Shrek‘ spinoff with ‘Puss In Boots‘ breaking box office records for a movie opening on Halloweekend weekend. The most recent record holder for this title was ‘Saw III’s‘ $33.6 million in 2006. It’s been a while since Antonio Banderas has had a hit like this, but you can be sure Jeffrey Katzenberg is already putting another ‘Puss’ sequel in the pipeline.

1. Puss In Boots 3D (Dreamworks Animation/Paramount) NEW [3,952 Theaters]
Friday $9.6M, Saturday $14M, Weekend $34M

Many were scratching their heads that Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures would release a family film over a weekend normally reserved for horror films (thankfully that Lionsgate kept their word and didn’t make another ‘Saw’ film! The demographics alone for the Anotonio Barnderas starrer are pretty impressive and shows that this audience will turn out for a film if it’s good, and with a Cinemascore of A-, it was pretty good. Demos are below:

59% female vs. 41% male

45% under 25 vs. 55% 25 and over

35% of the audience was Hispanic

3D was 51% and Imax was 7%

It will be interesting to see if Dreamworks actually did break this record when the official numbers hit tomorrow.

2. Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount) Week 2 [3,329 Theaters]
Friday $7.3M, Saturday $7.7M, Weekend $18.5M (-64%), Cume $81.3M

Everyone expected ‘Paranormal Activity 3′ to continue it’s box office bonanza after last weekends $52.57 opening, but it wound up dropping %64 for the weekend tailor made for it. I’m sure the official Halloween day Monday should bring it some decent business.

3. In Time (Fox) NEW [3,001 Theaters]
Friday $4.5M, Saturday $4.6M, Weekend $12M

Critics hated it, but audiences still gave the Justin Timberlake film a Cinemascore of B-. This one will stick around for another couple weeks just on that alone.

4. Footloose (Paramount) Week 3 [3,224 Theaters]
Friday $2M, Saturday $2.4M, Weekend $5.4M, Cume $38.4M

The remake is still dancing pretty well at the box office but expect dvd/blu-ray to really bring in the money for this remake of the classic 80′s Kevin Bacon film.

5. The Rum Diary (FilmDistrict) NEW [2,272 Theaters] [2,272 Theaters]
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $5M

Even Johnny Depp couldn’t save this film based on the book by Hunter Thompson. It sat on the shelf for two years before being released, and after seeing it, you can guess why.

6. Real Steel (DreamWorks/Disney) Week 4 [2,914 Theaters]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.2M, Weekend $4.9M, Cume $74.1M

Hugh Jackman’s robo-fighter is still kicking it.

7. Three Musketeers 3D (Summit) Week 2 [3,017 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.5M, Weekend $3.5M (-59%), Cume $14.8M

8. Ides Of March (Sony) Week 4 [1,572 Theaters]
Friday $925K, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $2.7M, Cume $33.5M

9. Moneyball (Sony) Week 6 [1,631 Theaters]
Friday $750K, Saturday $1.2M, Weekend $2.4M, Cume $67.4M

10. Courageous (Sony) Week 5 [1,134 Theaters]
Friday $550K, Saturday $775M, Weekend $1.8M, Cume $27.6M

While the studios are going to crow that box office is up 8% over last year, audience attendance is still eroding. There’s only so many ways to jack up ticket prices before that little bubble will burst revealing the truth that Hollywood just isn’t ready to accept yet. In the next five years that reality will hit, and we can only hope that someone will realize that maybe making some great, even good movie, will bring people back to the theaters.