Weekend Box Office: October 26-28, 2012

Go Go Argo Go!

On its third weekend in theaters, Ben Affleck’s ARGO finally shoved the competition aside and scrambled to the top of the box office with $12.3 million.

Speaking of scrambling, business across the board was slower than usual (the fact-based thriller was the only movie to collect eight figures) as the entire East Coast dashes around to collect supplies and prepare for the approaching “Frankenstorm”, so for some people, hitting theaters was obviously a lower priority to grabbing batteries and fueling generators.

But there was still enough Halloween spirit out there to push the family-friendly CG monster mash HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA up to second place with $9.5 million as the ‘toon nears a $200 million global total after five weeks. It was also the only release in the Top 5 that wasn’t rated R — seems like a while since that happened.

Not far behind was the complex era-hopping epic CLOUD ATLAS, debuting in third with $9.4 million. Even with the high-profile cast, audiences just may not have known what to make of the ambitious book adaptation from filmmakers Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. Curiosity may carry it for a while, but probably not back to its rumored $100+ million cost.

When it came to seasonal frights, there wasn’t quite as much interest in the supernatural presence of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 — last week’s box office champ fell to fourth with $8.6 million. Although PA4 has collected $90M worldwide so far, at this rate it may end up being the lowest-grossing entry in the series (PA3 finished with $207M globally).

Crowds also weren’t keen on revisiting the misty videogame terror town for SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D, which opened in sixth with $8 million after tussling with Liam Neeson’s TAKEN 2 for nearly the same amount. But Pyramid Head and the freaks fared better than the new trick-or-treat kid comedy FUN SIZE, which got ditched down in tenth place with just $4 million.

HERE COMES THE BOOM, SINISTER and ALEX CROSS all hung suspended around the $5 million point, while outside the chart, Gerard Butler’s new surfer story CHASING MAVERICKS was a wipeout with just $2.2 million. Additionally, LOOPER, PITCH PERFECT and Tim Burton’s FRANKENWEENIE all said goodbye to the Top 10.

And while North American audiences have to wait two more weeks for the next 007 mission, SKYFALL opened in several major international territories and has already collected $77.7 million.

Next weekend presents drunken pilot Denzel Washington in Robert Zemeckis’ drama FLIGHT, The RZA gathers an eclectic cast to kill each other for the oddball martial arts flick THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, and Disney dives into the videogame universe for the computer-animated WRECK-IT RALPH.

What November release are you most looking forward to seeing? VOTE HERE!