LOS ANGELES (AP):

Swingers co-stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau buddied up for the weekend's top movie as Couples Retreat debuted with US$35.3 million, while the micro-budgeted fright flick Paranormal Activity leaped into the top 10.

Shot for a reported US$15,000, Paranormal Activity came in at number five with US$7.1 million as distributor Paramount expanded it into daylong releases after two weeks of midnight-only screenings.

It's amazing

Paranormal Activity played in narrow release at just 160 cinemas, a fraction of the theatre count for other top movies. It averaged a whopping US$44,163 a theatre, compared with US$11,780 in 3,000 theatres for Couples Retreat.

"You almost do a double take when you look at that theatre count for a movie in the top five," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "That's amazing. That's unprecedented."

Couples Retreat exceeded expectations for distributor Universal Pictures, which had hoped the movie would top the US$20 million range. The solid opening came just days after Universal replaced top managers Marc Shmuger and David Linde with Adam Fogelson and Donna Langley, who were promoted from other jobs within the studio.

The management shake-up followed a summer of slim pickings at the box office for Universal, which released the Will Ferrell dud Land of the Lost and such commercial underachievers as Adam Sandler's Funny People and Jennifer Aniston's Love Happens.

"I feel pretty good today. Happy to have a hit," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "It happened at the right time, because it did lift our spirits, having the summer we had."

Along with Vaughn and Favreau, whose collaborations include last year's holiday hit Four Christmases, Couples Retreat features Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Stewart and Malin Akerman in a tale of friends at an island therapy resort.

Paranormal Activity was acquired by former Paramount partner DreamWorks at 2007's Slamdance Film Festival with the idea that writer-director Oren Peli would re-shoot it on a bigger budget.

But after audiences responded well to a test screening, Paramount decided to sneak Paranormal Activity out in a manner befitting its raw, independent roots. The studio began two weekends ago with midnight screenings in 13 cities, the movie building buzz online much as The Blair Witch Project did 10 years ago.

Like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity is fiction shot in documentary style as a young man tries to record strange doings and apparitions in the house he shares with his girlfriend.

Malin Akerman (left) and Vince Vaughn star in the Peter Billingsley comedy 'Couples Retreat.' - Contributed

TOP MOVIES

1. Couples Retreat, US$35.3 million

2. Zombieland, US$15 million

3. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, US$12 million

4. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D, US$7.7 million

5. Paranormal Activity, US$7.1 million

6. Surrogates, US$4.1 million

7. The Invention of Lying, US$3.4 million

8. Whip It, US$2.8 million

9. Capitalism: A Love Story, US$2.7 million

10. Fame, US$2.6 million