The fourth Paranormal Activity fright flick crept into the No.1 spot at the weekend box office with $30.2 million in US and Canadian ticket sales.

Iran hostage thriller Argo earned $16.6 million and took second place, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.

Low-budget Paranormal Activity 4 opened short of distributor Paramount's projection for at least $35 million in domestic receipts during the movie's lead off weekend. The film also trailed its predecessor in the haunted house series. The third Paranormal rung up $53 million in its debut last October.

But with $26.5 million more from international markets, the fourth installment already had grossed far more than its tiny production budget of $5 million.

The new Paranormal chronicles the strange events that haunt a neighborhood after a woman and her young son move in. The franchise produced by Jason Blum has brought in big bucks since the original hit theaters in 2009. The first three Paranormal films grabbed $577 million in global ticket sales. Each movie was produced for $5 million or less.

Receipts for Argo dropped 15 percent from a week earlier. Argo is based on the real-life rescue of US government employees from Iran in 1979 under the guise of a fake movie production. Ben Affleck directs and stars in the film.

In the No.3 slot, family movie Hotel Transylvania pulled in $13.5 million at North American (US and Canadian) theaters. Global sales for the animated film reached $119 million through Sunday.

Taken 2 fell to the No.4 spot with $13.4 million from Friday through Sunday.

Reuters