While a cynic might suggest that the film's success was helped by the fact it had no major new competition at US cinemas, Michael Jackson's This Is It has come roaring out of the gate, taking $32.5 million since its opening last Wednesday, including $22 million over the weekend.
Some will see the total as a slight disappointment, as after taking over $7 million on its first day in theatres, many expected it to have grossed over $40 million by the end of Sunday.
However the groos is good enough for Sony to have done the expected and announced that rather than only being in cinemas for a couple of weeks, they've extended This Is It's run by three weeks in the US, and for between one and three weeks in other countries. This is partly because their original plan to have the documentary in cinemas for two weeks and then on DVD before Christmas, was squashed by cinema owners, who are already paranoid about the narrowing gap between cinema and home entertainment releases.
However, while This Is It has done pretty well in the US, it's done even better elsewhere, as with Sony releasing the movie in over 100 countries virtually simultaneously, it's grossed $101 million around the world so far.
There were no other new entries on the US chart, although Paranormal Activity continued its impressive run, with its weekend take dropping only 21% from last weekend, for a total so far of over $84 million - which certainly isn't bad for a film that cost $15,000 to make. And despite the fact that Saturday was Halloween, Saw VI continued to tank, dropping from second to fifth place, taking only $5.5 million over the weekend.
While the box office has been slow for the last few weeks, it now expected to start revving up significantly in the run up to Christmas, with the release on Friday of Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol, then the disaster epic 2012 the following week, Twilight: New Moon on the 20th and several other big releases.
Take a look below for the full US box office top 10 for the weekend October 30th-November 1st, 2009.
| Rank |
Title |
Weekend Gross (millions) |
Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 |
Michael Jackson's This Is It |
$21.3 |
$32.5 |
| 2 |
Paranormal Activity |
$16,5 |
$84.7 |
| 3 |
Law Abiding Citizen |
$7.3 |
$51.3 |
| 4 |
Couples Retreat |
$6.0 |
$86.6 |
| 5 |
Saw VI |
$5.5 |
$22.8 |
| 6 |
Where The Wild Things Are |
$5.0 |
$61.8 |
| 7 |
The Stepfather |
$31.4 |
$24.7 |
| 8 |
Astro Boy |
$3.0 |
$10.5 |
| 9 |
Amelia |
$3.0 |
$8.3 |
| 10 |
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant |
$2.8 |
$10.5 |