HALLOWEEK: Paranormal Activity 3 Opens #1 For Franchises Best $50M To End Box Office Slump; Three Musketeers 3D And Johnny English Reborn Start Very Weak

FRIDAY11:30 PM, 3RD UPDATE: Hollywood’s scary 3 months ofslumping box office is officially over — appropriately enough at the start of Halloweek. Full analysis coming. 1. Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 3 as predicted is setting a franchise best with $45M for the weekend after opening to $25M today in 3,321 theaters. Expectstrong late shows tonight despite audiences giving it only a ‘C+’ CinemaScore. With $8M already in from midnights, rival studios say the total Friday gross could even reach $28M and a 3-day approaching $50M.(Of course, there’ll be a huge drop from Friday to Saturday. PA2 dropped -35%.) This is a game-changer since the track record in the U.S. for almost all franchises is that the sequel opens bigger than the first but then the threequelopens slightly lower than the second.Paranormal Activity 3s strong tracking for weeks showed wannasee not just with young males but also with older moviegoers. So no surprisethis bloodless thriller is breaking Hollywoods 3-month-long box office slump this weekend. Not since Foxs Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ($54.8M) on August 5th has there been a big grossing domestic opener beyond $30.1M (Disneys Lion King 3D). PA3 cost only $5M, making the low-budget high-grossing franchise the gift that keeps on giving, as a studio exec tells me. (PA1 did $108M/$85M foreign, while PA2 did $85M in the U.S. and $93M foreign.) PA3‘s $8M midnights from 2,200 U.S. locations overnight was +30% higher than the sequel Paranormal Activity 2 which earned $6.3M from 1,800 locations. Paramountwas lowballing the threequel to gross at least $35M in domestic box office. But PA2 made $40.6M its 2010 pre-Halloween weekend, then competitor Saw 3D debuted the following Friday. PA3 has no such rival this time around. So Hollywood was expecting a lot more money. Internationally, Paranormal Activity 3 opened in France Wednesday and saw $521K opening gross which was +45% higher than PA2, Australia Thursday which saw $516K or +14% ahead of PA2, and almost every foreign territory today besides North America. Russia’s $550K opening gross was 45% higher than PA2. To pump up global grosses, Paramount indulged in 20 round-the-world fan premieres in 8 countries with a contest based on the most Twitter activity. The winning cities included Melbourne, Tel Aviv, London, Sao Paulo, NY, and Hollywoods Arclight, where thousands of fans turned out for gourmet food trucks and franchise star Katie Featherston. 2.More good news for Paramount tonight. After a disappointing start last weekend,the Footloose reboot is having strong one-week hold — down only 33% for $3.6M today — driven byword of mouth and its ‘A’ CinemaScore.Footloose is lookingfor an estimated$10.5M for the weekend with a $30+M cume by Monday. 3. DreamWorks/Disney’sReal Steal is -30% for $3.2M Friday from 3,412 theaters at the start ofits 3rd week in release.But there’ll be a nice family matinee bounce on Saturday settting upan estimated$11.5M weekend and $67M cume.So the pic will move into second place ahead ofFootloose. But DreamWorks can’t get what it needed on this film: a $125M domestic hit. 4. Summit Entertainment’s newcomerThree Musketeers 3D couldn’t make much of a box office dentopening with only $2.8M Fridayin 3,017 theaters for an estimatedweak$8M weekend since the West Coast didn’t hold up despite audiences giving it a ‘B’ CinemaScore. 5. Sony Pictures’ adult political thriller from George Clooney,Ides Of March, holds well again (-32%)for $1.5M Friday from 2,042 theaters at the start of its 3rd week in release and an estimatedweekend around $5M for a $29M cume. 6.Alcon Entertainment/Warner Bros’ Dolphin Tale is solid (only -18%) for $1.4M Friday from 2,858 theaters at the start of its5th week in release and an estimated$5M weekend and $65M cume. 7.Sony Pictures’ Moneyball has another great hold (-20%) for $1.4M Friday from 2,353 theaters at the start of its5th week in release and estimated$4.4M weekend with $64Mcume. 8. Universal’s low-budgetJohnny English Reborn (1,551 theaters) looks like just $1M for Friday despite audiences giving it a ‘B’ CinemaScore,which should translate to a stillborn $3M opening for the weekend.Butthe studio opened thisWorking Title picinternationally back during the weekend of September 16 and the foreign gross has reflected star Rowan Atkinsons enormous popularity overseas. This weekend, the film is poised to reach $100 million at the international box office. It opened No. 1 in almost all of the 43 international markets where its been released and, with 20 international territories yet to open, its well on its way to grossing $200 million or more worldwide. The film opens in 6 more international markets this weekend, including France. 9. Not even Halloweek could help Universal’s horror holdoverThe Thing prequel which is down-68% for $1M Friday from 2,995 theaters and an estimated $3M weekend for $14M cume. 10. Summit’s 50/50 dramedyhangs in for $925K Friday (-32%) from 1,932 theaters at the start of its4th week in release and an estimated $2.9M weekend with just under $29M cume by Monday. FRIDAY NOON UPDATE: Unfortunately,Rentrak is unable to download any grosses thus far today, so there will not beany estimates based on noon averages.