After taking in $4.5 million from its Thursday late shows and midnight screening, Paranormal Activity 4 easily captured first place on Friday with an estimated $15 million. That puts the film on track for about $34 million by Sunday – an impressive figure that, nonetheless, falls short of most projections for the four year-old franchise. Twelve months ago, Paranormal Activity 3 earned $26.3 million on its first day, on its way to an all-time October opening record of $52.5 million. And while few expected PA 4 to come close to that total, the latest entry in Paramount’s crazy-profitable horror franchise should have had no trouble reaching the $40 million mark. Then again, because PA 4 is expected to earn twelve times its budget in worldwide grosses by Sunday, the word ‘disappointment’ does not exactly leap to mind. That word might better apply to this weekend’s second new release, Alex Cross. The thriller, starring Tyler Perry as author James Patterson’s popular crime solver, earned an estimated $4 million from 2,539 runs on Friday. That puts Alex Cross on track for a weekend in the $13 million range: well below the $20 million openings that Perry (as star AND director) has grown accustomed to.  Full details tomorrow.

Title

Friday

Total

1.

 Paranormal Activity 4

$15,000,000

$15

2.

 Argo

$5,090,000

$31.6

3.

 Taken 2

$4,250,000

$96.8

4.

 Alex Cross

$4,010,000

$4

5.

 Hotel Transylvania

$3,600,000

$109.1