'This Is It' wins weekend box office

Halloween audiences picked beats over blood this weekend, pushing "Michael Jackson's This Is It" to the top spot, while horror phenomenon "Paranormal Activity" scored a strong second-place finish.

With a $21.3 million domestic gross, "This Is It" raised its worldwide total to a huge $101 million that easily breaks the record for a concert doc, though it falls far short of the $250 million that concert promoter AEG reportedly predicted.

Even so, the performance was good enough to convince distributor Sony (which acquired the pic for a mere $60 million) to announce that the concert pic will remain in theaters at least until Thanksgiving.

Still beating expectations in its third wide-release weekend, the sleeper hit "Paranormal Activity" dropped just 22 percent for a $16.5 million haul. At $84.8 million total after six weekends, the surprise smash is now the year's highest grossing horror movie.

useful links: transport rankings