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Horror flick was the weekend’s frontrunner with $34.5 million debut. By Ryan J. Downey Suzan Crowley and Isabella Rossi in “The Devil Inside” Photo: Paramount Pictures Box office prognosticators, beware: “The Devil Inside” defied all industry expectations with its $34.5 million debut this weekend. That’s more than double where most estimates put the film just a few days ago. And despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, the supernatural horror thriller earned more than 34 times its estimated production budget of less than $1 million. Even some horror-centric sites like Fearnet and Horror.com were among the whopping 93 percent of film critics who panned “The Devil Inside,” according to film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Twitter accounts were ablaze over the weekend with reports of audiences vociferously booing the film’s ending. Moviegoers on average gave the film an “F,” according to CinemaScore. Drew McWeeny of Hitfix called it “an insidious kind of terrible movie, simply low-grade bad for most of its thankfully brief running time before offering up an ending so openly contemptuous of the audience as to feel like a prank.” Perhaps the devil is in the details: “Devil” made 49 percent of its weekend total on Friday and was the only new wide release in theaters, with the exception of the acclaimed drama “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” The Cold War era espionage tale, which expanded to 809 locations, had the weekend’s second-best per-screen average, just behind “Devil” at 2,285 locations. Nevertheless, the Paramount-distributed “Devil” had the third-biggest January opening ever, just behind 2008’s “Cloverfield” and the 1997 re-release of the first “Star Wars.” “Devil” was acquired by the Paramount imprint Insurge, which was created after the success of the first “Paranormal Activity” in 2009. Paramount was the studio behind the weekend’s second biggest movie of the weekend as well. “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” is the best-reviewed film of the Tom Cruise franchise and dropped a respectable 30 percent after a nice run at the top of the heap. “Ghost Protocol” earned $20.5 million for a total of $170.2 million, which should put it past the first “M:I” movie in a few days. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” made $14 million in its fourth week of release to come in at #3. The sequel was #1 at the box office in other parts of the world and has made a total of $157.4 million domestically. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” had the best hold of any of the previously wide-released movies over the weekend, dropping just 24 percent. “Dragon Tattoo” was #4 with $11.3 million for a $76.8 million three-week total. The animated “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” rounded out the top five with $9.5 million for a four-week total of $111.5 million. What did you think of “The Devil Inside”? Sound off in the comments! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Devil Inside.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .

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‘The Devil Inside’ Defies Expectations At Box Office