October 23, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
The caught-on-camera fright franchise may have become an annual Halloween tradition for the past few years, but its latest outing is showing signs of fatigue. Paranormal Activity 4‘s debut last weekend easily won the domestic box office, but its estimated $30 million is over $10 million less than Paranormal Activity 2‘s debut a couple years ago and over $20 million less than Paranormal Activity 3‘s opening, which broke the record for highest horror opening ever last year. But fans of the low-budget series have nothing to fear because the highly profitable films will not only churn out a fifth installment next year but also a Spanish spin-off as well, which was teased as an after-credits stinger.
Ben Affleck’s Oscar-buzzy Argo only dropped 15% from its debut last week to hang onto second place, meaning last week’s champ, Liam Neeson action thriller Taken 2, dropped down to third after back-to-back box office wins in first. Hotel Transylvania, Adam Sandler’s computer animated family film which sunk its fangs into the biggest September opening ever last month, barely trailed Taken 2, which crossed the $100 million mark domestically. Tyler Perry first action movie as Alex Cross, the detective character he assumed from Morgan Freeman, debuted and rounded out the weekend’s top five, which you can check out below via BOM:
- Paranormal Activity 4 — Weekend Gross: $29 million — Total Gross: $29 million (new)
- Argo — Weekend Gross: $16.4 million — Total Gross: $43 million (#2 last week)
- Taken 2 — Weekend Gross: $13.3 million — Total Gross: $105.9 million (#1 last week)
- Hotel Transylvania — Weekend Gross: $13.0 million — Total Gross: $119 million (#4 last week)
- Alex Cross — Weekend Gross: $11.4 million — Total Gross: $11.4 million (new)
You can discuss this with more MediaStinger fans on Facebook, you can follow us on Twitter at @MediaStinger, and you can follow writer Vinnie Leduc on Twitter at @MovieVVhore.
