Universal’s star-studded comedy Couples Retreat out-performed expectations and won the weekend box office derby with an estimated $35.3 million, while Paramount’s Paranormal Activity managed to make it into the top 5 in spite of being shown in only 160 theaters, thanks to a superlative $44, 163 per screen average.  Led by last week’s winner Zombieland, which dropped 39% and finished second, the rest of the top ten holdovers performed well and helped the overall box office post a 14% gain over the same frame last year.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): October 9-11, 2009

Rank	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./Screen
1	Couples Retreat	$35,340,000	3,000	$11,780
2	Zombieland	$15,000,000	3,038	$4,937
3	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	$12,000,000	2,992	$4,011
4	Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D)	$7,674,000	1,752	$4,380
5	Paranormal Activity	$7,066,000	160	$44,163
6	Surrogates	$4,115,000	2,992	$1,375
7	The Invention of Lying	$3,370,000	1,743	$1,933
8	Whip It	$2,800,000	1,738	$1,611
9	Capitalism: A Love Story	$2,700,000	995	$2,714
10	Fame	$2,556,000	3,110	$822

Although it was battered by the critics (only 15% of the top critics surveyed on Rotten Tomatoes liked the film), Couples Retreat became the latest in a string of comedies including The Proposal and The Hangover that have over performed in 2009.  Couples Retreat, which takes place in picturesque Bora Bora, attracted an audience that was 61% female and 56% under 30, while posting the sixth best October opening ever. 

 

Paramount’s Paranormal Activity, which was made for under $16,000, shows every sign of becoming 2009’s version of The Blair Witch Project.  Paramount rolled out Paranormal Activity as a “midnight movie” three weeks ago, and aided by an extremely effective viral Internet marketing campaign, the film has quickly become a phenomenon.  A decade ago The Blair Witch Project opened in just 27 theaters and earned an astounding $1.5 million (a $56,002 average), before expanding wide after two weeks and capturing the weekend box office with $29.2 million.  Look for Paranormal Activity to expand in the coming weeks and grab more than its share of the Halloween horror movie box office.

 

The two kid-oriented animated offerings, Sony’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Disney’s Toy Story 3D Double Feature both continued to perform well.  Meatballs dropped just 24% while earning an estimated $12 million and bringing its cumulative to $96 million.  The Toy Story double-dip was down just 38 % and earned an estimated $7.6 million.  Look for Disney/Pixar to announce that the double feature’s two-week run will be extended.

 

Disney’s Surrogates, which is based on the Top Shelf comic, declined 43% in its third weekend.  The science fiction saga earned $4.1 million and finished in sixth place.  Both Drew Barrymore’s Roller Derby picture Whip It and Michael Moore’s documentary Capitalism: A Love Story suffered declines of under 40% and finished in the top ten.