Friday saw a 6.6% increase in box office revenue over the previous Friday.

1. Couples Retreat - $12.3M
2. Zombieland - $4.7M
3. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - $3.1M
4. Paranormal Activity - $2.5M
5. Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) - $2M
6. Surrogates - $1.2M
7. The Invention Of Lying - $1M
8. Whip It - $0.89M
9. Fame - $0.78M
10. Capitalism: A Love Story - $0.76M

COUPLES RETREAT opened the box office this weekend with a great start of $12.3M. The Vince Vaughn comedy has had a great start, and will likely get a $32-$35M opening weekend. Re-engaging that part of the audience that was in to earlier films like THE HANGOVER, COUPLES RETREAT should have a decent run.

The breakout story of this Friday is the sudden appearance of the ultra-low budget film PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Dubbed as the spiritual successor to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the film managed an astonishing $2.5M from only 159 cinemas after some interesting internet buzz pushed the film in to the light. The film could potentially be looking at a $6-8M opening opening. The film was completed in 2007 and has taken this long to get out due to its long-winded travels through the film festival and studio systems. A long gestating success, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is the story of the day, especially with reports claiming it only cost $15,000 to make.

The remaining films in the Top 10 for Friday consisted of returning films; ZOMBIELAND and CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS managed to hold on well enough in the face of new competition. The TOY STORY double feature in 3D still continues to do some decent business, while the remainder of the Top 10 see a crop of returning films that will likely disappear shortly.

Stay tuned for a more comprehensive wrap-up of the weekend box office in North America for 9th-11th October 2009.

The Top 10 at the North American box office took in an estimated total of $29.5 million for the whole of Friday 9th October 2009.