“Paranormal Activity” Tops Box Office

The word-of-mouth campaign for “Paranormal Activity” is paying off.  After entering the top five last week in its wide release, the low-budget horror movie pulled off a big upset over the weekend, beating out the latest installment of the “Saw” franchise” for the top spot at the box office.

“Paranormal” took in $22 million over the weekend, compared to the $14.4 million debut for “Saw VI.”

It was the lowest take for a “Saw” film since the original debuted in 2004.  Each of the next installments took in $30 million or more on their opening weekend.

The previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, the Warner Bros. tale “Where the Wild Things Are”, fell to No. 3, just behind “Saw VI” with $14.4 million. Spike Jonze’s adaptation of the beloved children’s book by Maurice Sendak raised its total to $54 million.

Among other wide releases, Summit Entertainment’s “Astro Boy” opened at No. 6 with $7 million, Universal’s “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” debuted at No. 8 with $6.3 million and Fox Searchlight’s “Amelia” premiered at No. 11 with $4 million.