This week:

Puss In Boots animates the box office as the Spanish voiced kitty tops the chart, Paranormal Activity 3 continues to scare audiences and Justin Timberlake's In Time is out of luck.

Shrek spin-off Puss In Boots (read our review) topped the box office over the weekend with an estimated $33 million take. The Antonio Banderas voiced ‘toon banked roughly 50% less than Shrek Forever After, which brought in $70 million worth of green on its debut last year. That film went on to gross over $258 million at the US box office and $752 million worldwide – pretty good considering that it was the second lowest grossing film in the series (the first film holds that honor). Now, Puss In Boots won’t scale the dizzy heights of the other films in the franchise, but it should turn a decent profit once worldwide grosses and ancillaries are taken into account.

Last weekend’s champ Paranormal Activity 3 dropped a whopping 64% from its debut, taking in $19 million. That gives the $5 million fright film a great $81 million gross. A bountiful Halloween should see grosses swell, before they drop like a stone, again.

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried’s In Time found itself in the wrong place – opening at three, and grossing just $12 million. The science fiction film received weak reviews (read ours), and it again shows that despite his dominance on the music scene, Timberlake isn’t a movie star.

In Time opens in third place

Footloose continues to impress, in a subtle kind of way. The film may not have done gangbusters on its debut, but it has now amassed a decent $38.5 million, partly helped by its $5.5 million gross this weekend.

Johnny Depp’s The Rum Diary (read our review) should see the weekend out with around $5 million. It’s what was expected on this long-delayed Hunter S. Thompson adaptation, and I'm just glad that it’s a Depp film without the word pirates in the title or Tim Burton in the director’s chair. In a way it’s a shame that this film didn’t do better business, as we might get back the artistically driven Depp, rather than the fiscally minded one. Oh, well...

The Rum Diary has a disappointing debut at the box office

Real Steel banked a smidgen under $5 million, giving the former box office champ a decent (if not spectacular) $74 million. Will it make it to $100 million? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Three Musketeers had a steep decline after last week’s soft launch. Another $3.5 should up its cume to a flaccid $14.8 million total. The film will do over $100 million around the globe, when all is said and done, but I’m sure that everyone involved expected more swash for their buckle.

The Ides of March has now become George Clooney’s highest grossing film as a director. The political thriller brought in another $2.7 million and upped its total gross to over $33 million. It’s not a massive number, but it does show that there is a (niche) market for old fashioned thrillers.

Moneyball racked up $2.4 million over the weekend for a $67 million cumulative gross, while fellow holdover Courageous rounded out the top ten. The drama brought in a little under $2 million for a $27 million total.

That's it for now. See you at the movies.

Source: Deadline