Paranormal Activity 3 Wins US Box Office

Scares up a record-breaking horror haulAs we creep steadily closer towards Halloween, the ghosts are gathering and the American box office has seen a boost from punters clearly looking to get spooked. Horror threequel Paranormal Activity 3 pulled off something of a coup, opening to the biggest estimated figure ever for a horror movie and smashing through Paramount's expectations. The film, which serves as a prequel to the other two, opened at the top of the charts with an impressive $54 million, which means it's into healthy profit already given the budget of $5 million.There was much less good news awaiting the teams behind the week's other new releases, however, as Real Steel and Footloose held on well to slip just one place down into second and third place respectively. Hugh Jackman and the boxing robots earned $11.3 million in their third week, while the dancing teens scored $10 million in their second.Paul WS Anderson's Three Musketeers saw their swash severely buckle, opening much lower than Summit's expectations and only scoring $8.8 million for fourth place. George Clooney's political drama The Ides Of March took fifth with $4.9 million.Sixth place went to Dolphin Tale, which earned $4.2 million, while Moneyball was down to seventh with $4 million.Johnny English Reborn proved to be a damp squib with American audiences, opening in eighth with $3.8 million, though we doubt Universal is too worried as Rowan Atkinson and co proved much popular over here and elsewhere, with the comedy already edging towards $100 million worldwide. Ninth was The Thing, which continued to do lacklustre business (how bad? Last week it opened in third and has already sunk six places) with $3.1 million, while cancer comedy 50/50 was 10th with $2.8 million.To face your demonic past with statistics, check out the full charts over at Box Office Mojo.