Paranormal Activity 3 Wins Big At Box Office, Breaks October Opening Weekend Record

Low budget thriller Paranormal Activity 3 managed to scare up an October opening weekend record over the last 3 days with the movie earning $54 million.

The newest installment of the horror flick was directed by Catfish directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

Paranormal Activity 2 earned $40.7 million when it debuted in 2010 while the original movie which was filmed for just $15 million managed to scare up more than $100 million in ticket sales.

The former biggest opening weekend for an October movie was previously owned by Paramount’s Jackass 3D which earned $50.35 million.

Speaking about this weekends success Paramount Pictures President of Distribution Don Harris said:

“Ultimately, it gets back to why there’s still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies. We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It’s all the reason movie theaters exist and this genre has always been front and center,” Don Harris, says Paramount’s President of Distribution.

The low budget flick saw a huge increase over last weekends winner Real Steel while trumping the 1984 remake of Footloose which managed just $10.8 million for a third place finish.

Are you surprised to learn that Paranormal Activity 3 did so well at the box office this weekend?