Updated Saturday, 8:27 a.m.
"Paranormal Activity 3" is proving that audiences still love a good scare. Paramount estimates that the third installment of its creepy franchise grossed an estimated $26.2 million in North America on Friday -- $8 million in midnight showings alone.
Those strong numbers put it on track to beat expectations by pulling in more than $50 million in its opening weekend, according to rival-studio estimates.
Pre-release expectations were for something just north of $40 million.
"Paranormal's" $8 million in midnight sales is a franchise record -- 30 percent higher than the $6.3 million "Paranormal Activity 2" took in at midnight shows in its opening weekend last year.
The weekend's other debuts aren't faring so well: Estimates have "The Three Musketeers" grossing just short of $3 million on Friday. If trends continue, the film will be in fourth place for the weekend, behind "Paranormal" and carryovers "Real Steel" and "Footloose." Estimates don't have "Musketeers" cracking double-digits for the weekend.
Universal's "Johnny English Reborn" managed only about $1.3 million on Friday and is set to take in around $4.2 million for the weekend.
Earlier:
If it's late October, the weekend box office now belongs to “Paranormal Activity.”
One of the most reliably profitable franchises in the industry is set to creep out audiences in more than 3,300 locations in its debut weekend
Paramount figures "Paranormal Activity" will gross somewhere in the mid-$30 million range. Outside estimates predict it’ll gross up to $42 million.
Also read: Review: Too-Familiar Things Go Bump in the Night in 'Paranormal Activity 3'
Either way, it’s a remarkable number for a movie with a budget of $5 million -- a mint compared to the first two "Paranormal" installments, which came with ridulously low price tags of $15,000 and $3 million
The weekend’s other new wide releases -- “Johnny English,” the 3D “The Three Musketeers” and “The Mighty Macs” – look to be a mixed box office bag.
Also read: 'Paranormal' Now the Most Profitable Film Ever
Limited openings include Kevin Spacey film “Margin Call,” which will debut in 50 theaters, and Fox Searchlight's Sundance hit "Martha Marcy May Marlene, which will start out in four locations.
Also read: Review: 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' the Chilling Feel-Bad Movie of the Year
But as it has for the past two pre-Halloween weekends, the "Paranormal" franchise will own the box office.
In case you somehow missed it, Israeli filmmaker Oren Peli -- and studio champion Adam Goodman, now president of the Paramount Film Group -- caused an industry-wide sensation with the first "Paranormal Activity" in 2009. The home-spun horror film built an audience on a quirky viral campaign through the early part of the fall before going wide to an incredible $19.6 million. (Said one Paramount executive that weekend: "I just bought a boat!"
Ultimately, "Paranormal 1" grossed nearly $194 million worldwide on a $15,000 budget.
