Though there was only one successful new release this weekend in Paramount’s “Paranormal Activity 4,” the overall box office was still up around 10 percent due to successful holdovers in “Argo” and “Hotel Transylvania.”

“Paranormal Activity 4,” Paramount Pictures’ fourth installment in the franchise was this weekend’s top grosser, with a little more than $29 million from 3,412 locations. This opening is less than both the $52.6-million opening of “Paranormal Activity 3” and the $40.7-million opening of “Paranormal Activity 2.” Perhaps this is a sign for Paramount that their beloved franchise has finally run its course.

Despite the lower opening of this fourth installment, the film will still be very profitable, as the production budget was only set at a mere $5 million. Other reasons for the lower debut can be attributed to the film’s release date. The previous two Paranormal films opened at midnight on Thursday, yet this film opened at 9 p.m. on Thursday. Perhaps word of mouth spread more quickly, and thus limited the number of weekend prospects. The release also comes a week after Summit Entertainment’s “Sinister,” which is a similarly themed horror film that attracted the same audience that “Paranormal Activity 4” did, putting the two films in direct competition with each another.

The second new release this weekend was Summit Entertainment’s “Alex Cross,” the Tyler Perry thriller. The film opened at fifth place, with a disappointing $11.4 million, the worst debut ever for a film starring Tyler Perry. What’s especially disappointing is that the film cost an estimated $35 million to produce. The good news is that the film generally received positive reviews from those who saw it, earning an A rating on CinemaScore. If Summit Entertainment featured Perry more in its marketing of the film, the film might have been more profitable in its opening weekend.

Warner Bros.’ “Argo” had a terrific holdover, earning $16.45 million, which is only 16 percent less than last weekend’s opening; film revenue typically drops between 40 and 50 percent the subsequent weekend. The film is already garnering Oscar buzz and word of mouth is bound to keep the film highly profitable for the next coming weekends, until the early November releases of “Flight” and “Skyfall.” The film has already grossed over $43 million after 10 days and is bound to reach $100 million domestically if it continues having holders like this for the coming weeks.

Finally, Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania” earned just over $13 million, a 25-percent drop from last weekend. The film has already grossed over $118 million and is bound to remain strong as Halloween approaches. By next weekend, Sony executives will be celebrating, as “Hotel Transylvania” will surpass the $125-million gross of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and become the most successful film ever for Sony Pictures Animation.

– Compiled by Ian Tecklin, contributing writer, ijteckli@syr.edu