Friday saw a 44.5% increase in box office revenue over the previous Friday.

1. Where The Wild Things Are - $11.9M
2. Law Abiding Citizen - $7.7M
3. Paranormal Activity - $6.6M
4. Couples Retreat - $5.8M
5. The Stepfather - $4.3M
6. Zombieland - $2.4M
7. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - $2.1M
8. Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) - $0.82M
9. The Invention Of Lying - $0.6M
10. Surrogates - $0.58M

The box saw a big upsurge this Friday as a slew of new films entered the marketplace, as well as a big surprise story from last weekend which continue to gain momentum.

The number one film for Friday is director Spike Jonze's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE which exceeded industry expectations by taking an estimated $11.9M. The family adventure is looking at a $35M+ opening weekend.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN opened in second spot on Friday. The Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler starrer earned an impressive estimate of $7.7M and is a win for distributor Overture Films.

Without a doubt the biggest story coming out of the USA Box Office at the moment is PARANORMAL ACTIVITY which is shattering all expectations and has actually increased its box office take on last Friday, earning an impressive estimate of $6.6M (as a comparison, it earned around $7M last weekend). The film is looking at an $18M weekend and has now officially become the Blair Witch for a new generation, having only cost $15,000.

The other new opener for Friday, which did not get lost in the shuffle, is the horror-thriller THE STEPFATHER which managed a decent estimate of $4.3M, which is around on target for a typical horror film opening.

Stay tuned for a more comprehensive wrap-up of the weekend box office in North America for 16th-18th October 2009.

The Top 10 at the North American box office took in an estimated total of $42.9 million for the whole of Friday 16th October 2009.