Weekend Box Office

1) Michael Jackson's This Is It - $21.3 million
2) Paranormal Activity - $16.5 million
3) Law Abiding Citizen - $7.3 million
4) Couples Retreat - $6 million
5) Saw VI - $5.5 million
6) Where the Wild Things Are - $5 million
7) The Stepfather - $3.4 million
8) Astro Boy - $3 million
9) Amelia- $3 million
10) Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - $2.8 million

The documentary about the tour that could have been, Michael Jackson's This Is It, which opened on Wednesday took the top spot this Halloween weekend earning $21.5 million for a total of $32.5 million. The film, which sold out in many theaters across the country was on over 3,400 screens and made an average of $6,119 per screen. Last weeks big winner Paranormal Activity continued scaring up big bucks at the box office earning the number two spot with over $16 million. Playing on a little over 2,400 screens, the film earned $6,880 per screen making its total gross upwards of $84 million, which is extremely impressive for a film that only cost $15 thousand to make.

The Jamie Foxx/Gerard Butler thriller Law Abiding Citizen which was number four in it's second week last week climbed back to number three this week with $7.3 million earning back it's budget with a total gross of $51 million. Couples Retreat also moved up one spot to number four in it's fourth week on the chart with roughly $6 million making it's total gross an estimated $86.6 million surpassing it's $70 million budget. However, the biggest drop of the week came from Saw VI, which went from number two to number five with only an estimated $5.5 million.

This weekend's other two major releases did quite well on a per screen average. Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the sequel to the cult hit film made $6,794 on 68 screens for a total of $462,000. While Gentlemen Broncos, a film by the creators of Napoleon Dynamite was only released on two screens and made $5,000 per screen for a total gross of $10,000. Unfortunately, Halloween weekend did not scare up box office success for either Ti West's horror genre throw-back The House of the Devil or the Corbin Bernson directed Dead Air as neither film managed to crack the top fifty.

Next weekend will see three new films enter into wide release with Disney's a Christmas Carol, the highly anticipated 3D Animated re-telling of the classic Charles Dickens' story starring Jim Carrey. Also in wide release is Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's new thriller The Box starring Cameron Diaz. Rounding out the list is the UFO horror film The Fourth Kind starring Milla Jovovich. The Men Who Stare at Goats starring Oscar Winners George Clooney and Kevin Spacey along with Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges opens in limited release as does the Hal Holbrook drama That Evening Sun. Check back in seven days to see who comes out on top at the box office next week.