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Friday's and Saturday's North American grosses and weekend and cume for the Top 10 are:

1. Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount) NEW [3,216 Theaters]
Friday $20M,
Saturday $14M,
Weekend $43.5M

The success of Paranormal Activity 2 is a classic case of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like the sleeper smash original, the sequel was made for a bare bones budget of $3 million and now is the biggest horror opening ever (record held by Friday The 13th at $40.5M). The director of the first Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli, stayed on as producer along with Akiva Goldsman and Jason Blum. Katie Featherston, who was at the center of the first film's action, also returned.

The production and its viral and online marketing campaign stayed true to the original, even down to the intimate handheld style of the first with its so-called "found footage" positioning and a media budget half of what a studio would normally spend to get film to this gross.

Paramount was gushing what a "spectacular number" $6.3 million is from 1,800 midnight screening locations, passing Watchmen's $4.6 million as the highest midnight grosser of all time for an "R"-rated pic. Whereas the first film started off as a sleeper in a few college town locations and expanded its release week by week as word of mouth grew and a smart TV ad campaign got going,

Hollywood was convinced that PA2 could break the $30 million barrier, always tough for any R-rated flick. But $43.5M is overwhelming. Especially since the best weekend of the first was $21.1M. Rotten Tomatoes showcased 75% positive reviews for the horror film, almost as good as the original's 82%.

"There is no Blair Witch curse here," a Paramount exec gushed.