Jackson Film Tops US Box Office

Michael Jackson film This Is It has topped the North American box office in its first weekend of release. The film, which was released worldwide on 28 October, took $21.3m (�13m) over the weekend, taking its five-day haul to $101m (�61.5m). Columbia Pictures said it now plans to extend the film's two-week limited run in North America until 29 November. Low-budget horror Paranormal Activity slipped from first-place to number two with $16.5m (�10m). The sleeper-hit has now taken $84.8m (�51.8m) in its sixth week of release. Gerard Butler action film Law Abiding Citizen and romantic comedy Couples Retreat both rose one place to four and five respectively. Horror sequel Saw VI and Spike Jonze film Where The Wild Things Are both fell three spots to five and six. There were no other new releases in the chart as film companies shied away from competing with the Halloween weekend.