PARANORMAL WEEKEND

As expected, Universal Pictures' Couples Retreat collected alimony from movie goers this weekend taking in a whopping $35 million at the box office. The comedy boasts an all-star cast including Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman (!), Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell and more. I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but will do so tomorrow likely. Reviews are atrocious, but honestly, what were people expecting?

Last week's top film Zombieland is still hanging strong, pulling in a healthy $15 million in second. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs continues to impress in third in it's fourth week in the Top Ten at $13 million.

The most intriguing film in the Top Ten this weekend however, was Paramount Pictures' Paranormal Activity in fifth. The film expanded into only 159 theatres and made $7.1 million dollars, which is almost unheard of. This led me to look into this film further and I learned that it is a small budget horror flick with a cast of unknowns. It has gained its buzz mostly from the internet, as little advertising has been done otherwise. Reviews are almost all positive and it looks to be this year's big sleeper hit. May be worth checking out in time for Halloween.

I'm still rooting for Whip It to make its splash, although it doesn't look like the buzz is amounting to much, placing in eighth this weekend. It made $2.8 million, still not recovering half of its $15 million production budget in its second week. Oh well... I tried.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!