After a miserable fall box office season thus far, Where the Wild Things Are, the live-action film adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book, lead the way to a huge resurgence in movie-going this past weekend. Wild Things grossed $32.4 million over the three-day weekend to take a commanding lead.

Law Abiding Citizen took a distant second, drawing in only $21.2 million. The real dark-horse winner was Paranormal Activity, more profitable than car accessories, which although it has been out for a month now, only went into wider release this past weekend, growing up to 760 screens nationwide, a 600-screen jump. It maintained by far the best per-screen average of any motion picture this week, grossing over $26,500 per screen to take possession of third place, adding $20.1 million to its total and lifting its running gross to $33.7 million.

Couples Retreat placed fourth with $17.9 million and is stuck at $63.3 million, still short of its $70 million price tag after two weeks. The remake of the slasher film The Stepfather steps in at the fifth spot, rounding out the Top 5 films with a nifty $12.3 million debut off a modest $20 million budget; the original Stepfather movie, some will recall, starred LOST’s Terry O’Quinn as the eponymous stepfather. Kinda doubt the new actor will match O’Quinn…