There are mahoosive box-office openings and then there's Michael Jackson's posthumous concert movie This Is It, which, thanks to a global army of MJ devotees, comes straight in at number one in this week's box office, taking a colossal $101m in global receipts in the process.

Marketed by Sony as a farewell to the much-loved artist, This Is It premiered simultaneously around the world on Tuesday. In the five days since, it's made figures more usually associated with a summer tentpole release, accruing $32.5m in the US and $68m in all other countries. Japan went especially wacko for Jacko, contributing $10.4m to Sony's coffers.

Meanwhile, the Spielberg-scaring Paranormal Activity held firm in second place, taking $16.5m and reaching a three-week gross of $84.4m. Not too shabby for a movie that cost 46 cents and a box of Cracker Jack to make. UK filmgoers will get a chance to find out if it really is the scariest movie ever made when it opens on November 25.

It was a less gilded Halloween for Saw VI though. The franchise seems to have come out second best in a clash with the law of diminishing returns, pulling in a meagre $5.6m on its second weekend.

The prospect of a be-goggled Hilary Swank saying 'chooks away' was met with an equally half-hearted reaction from US moviegoers. Amelia, the biopic of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and an early tip for a best actress Oscar, crashed to earth with weekend takings of $3 million. Total grosses after ten days are a distinctly earthbound $8.3m. Head over to Box Office Mojo for all the other weekend facts and figures.