'Paranormal Activity 2' Tops Friday Box Office

Horror sequel rakes in $20.1 million on first day.
By Mawuse Ziegbe

scene from "Paranormal Activity 2"
Photo: Paramount Pictures

The follow-up to the breakout runaway horror hit, "Paranormal Activity 2," kicked off its first weekend in theaters with a major haul. The creepy tale of a household dealing with unwanted spirits, told through grainy surveillance footage and like its predecessor was largely unscripted, pulled in $20.1 million on Friday.

Trailing behind "Paranormal" is last week's box-office busting debut "Jackass 3D. " The prank-fest, which landed about $50 million its first weekend in theaters, slipped to the second-place slot. Johnny Knoxville and his crew's latest array of cringe-inducing antics rang up nearly $7.6 million as it entered its sophomore session in theaters. Friday's haul's kicks the film's total estimated gross to over $73 million.

The spy thriller "Red" continued to pull in audiences and came in third in Friday's box-office race. The flick, which stars Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and Bruce Willis as retired hired guns now dodging their former employer's efforts to keep them quiet, raked in roughly $4.5 million. The action picture's total gross is an estimated $33 million.

The Clint Eastwood-helmed ensemble drama "Hereafter" landed in fourth place. Exploring the lives of three people who are dealing with death and the afterlife in several ways, including the story of a psychic played by Matt Damon, the screen legend's latest turn in the director's chair made approximately $4.1 million on Friday.

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Network," which tells the story of Facebook's rise from a Harvard campus curiosity to a social media behemoth boasting 500 million users, netted about $2.3 million on Friday. The movie's total estimated haul stands at around $67.9 million.

Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity 2," "Jackass 3D." and "Red."

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