Ha, I knew it! After adding another 1100 theaters, Paranormal Activity (reviewed here) has finally risen to its proper position at the weekend box office. That position? Why, number one, of course, and only a week after I predicted it. In my book, that's going to be a win. The movie took in $22 million over the weekend, good for $11,000 per location. Not too shabby, eh?

Speaking of shabby, the first weekend of Saw VI was apparently pretty bad. Now when I saw it (and reviewed it), it seemed like they were setting up the end of the franchise. Or at least the beginning of the end. Now that I've seen the disappointing box office numbers, I wonder if they'll actually finish out the Saw saga next year. For most movies, second place and $14.8 million is a good haul, but no Saw movie has performed this poorly, ever.

In fact, Saw performed so poorly it was just barely able to pass Where The Wild Things Are (reviewed here), which took in $14.4 million in spite of a lot of negative, confused, and ambivalent press. Could this be the end of torture porn? I sure think so.

As for the other new releases, there wasn't much out there for any of them. Astro Boy staggered to an unimpressive $7 million opening bow, good for sixth place, while Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (reviewed here) managed eighth on $6.3 million dollars this weekend. I'm not sure why Astro Boy performed so poorly, but Cirque Du Freak is a little too culty to bring in any money, John C. Reilly just doesn't do it as a leading man or a comedy performer, and, of course, there's not much room anymore for funny vampires. That's a genre that begins and ends with Once Bitten.

Law Abiding Citizen drops to fourth this weekend, with a take of $12.7 million, while the surprisingly successful Couples Retreat falls to fifth from fourth on a take of $11.09 million. As October weekends go, overall this one is shaping up to be a really successful one, as the top five movies all made quite a bit of money between them. Couples Retreat is edging towards $80 million total, while Law Abiding Citizen broke $40 million.

Did you guys see (or get) the remake of The Stepfather yet? It took seventh place this weekend with $6.5 million, and officially turned a profit on its production budget by crossing over $20 million. Anyway, it's a remake of an 8's movie of the same name. Get used to seeing a lot of remakes and sequels coming down the movie chute and into your theaterplexes. I just hope Zombieland (tenth place, $4.3 million) gets a sequel, because it was awesome.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (reviewed here) took ninth place this weekend, thanks to $5.6 million The surprisingly big hit crossed $115 million at the box office, which is really good for a movie based on a book I'd never heard of, released during a glut of animation the likes of which we've never seen.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which means that we've got a holiday weekend at the box office. Of course, it's not one of those good three-day weekend holidays, just a convenient excuse to churn horror into the theaters and a great reason to get dressed in your best costume before bar-hopping or whatever it is you might do with your Saturdays. For this reason, pretty much nothing is coming out this weekend in wide release, except for zombie Michael Jackson's last film, This Is It, which drops on Wednesday.

Also bowing in a measly 65 theaters is the long-awaited (by me) Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. I'm very surprised nobody moved up something like The Box or The Fourth Kind to supply an extra dose of horror to Halloween weekend, but I guess maybe they didn't want to butt heads with Paranormal Activity or Saw VI.