LOS ANGELES (AP):

Paranormal Activity 3 didn't just go bump in the night. It made a tonne of noise at the box office with a record-setting, US$54 million opening.

The third film in Paramount Pictures' low-budget fright franchise, which was No. 1 at the box office, had the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, according to Sunday studio estimates. It broke the previous record part two set a year ago with US$40.7 million. It's also the biggest opening ever for an October release, topping the US$50.35 million Paramount's Jackass 3D made last year.

Paranormal Activity 3 is actually a prequel, with the discovery of disturbing home-movie footage from 1988. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who made the creepy documentary Catfish, took over directing duties this time.

Don Harris, Paramount's president of distribution, said the studio hoped part three would simply perform better than part two. The first Paranormal Activity, with its reported US$15,000 budget, became a phenomenon in 2009 through midnight screenings and word of mouth.

Harris believes this installment did so well because it's actually the best movie of the three. He noted that it appealed to an older crowd, with 47 per cent over the age of 25 compared to 40 per cent for Paranormal Activity 2. Strong reviews also helped, he said, including a rave from Time magazine. And fundamentally, horror movies simply play better in a packed cinema.

"Ultimately, it gets back to why there's still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies," Harris said. "We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It's all the reason movie cinemas exist and this genre has always been front and centre."

Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, said he was expecting Paranormal Activity 3 to come in around US$35 million for the weekend, simply because most newcomers have been underperforming this fall.

"This brand is as solid as the Twilight brand or the Jackass brand. There are certain brands that just transcend any kind of box-office rhyme or reason. They just resonate," Dergarabedian said. "These are shot in someone's house, they look like they're shot with a home video recorder, and people just relate to it."

Last week's No. 1 release, the futuristic boxing robot adventure Real Steel, fell to second place. It made US$11.3 million for a domestic total of US$67.2 million. Worldwide, the Disney movie has grossed US$153.3 million.

Among the other new releases this week, Summit Entertainment's 3-D version of The Three Musketeers came in fourth place with US$8.8 million. And Universal's Johnny English Reborn, a sequel to the 2003 spy parody starring Rowan Atkinson, opened at No. 8 with US$3.8 million. But it's already a huge hit internationally, having made US$104.5 million so far.

In limited release, the critically acclaimed psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene made US$137,541 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles. That's a hefty US$34,385 per screen average, according to Fox Searchlight.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through yesterday at United States and Canadian cinemas, according to Hollywood.com.