Michael Jackson’s This Is It comfortably led Wednesday’s daily box office with a debut of $7.45 million. However, the concert documentary showcasing the final rehearsals of the late pop icon opened well below the expectations of most, which were greatly inflated by the film’s tremendous pre-sales and two-week limited engagement window. This Is It grossed an estimated $2.2 million from midnight screenings, but was unable to sustain the momentum from that solid start throughout the rest of its opening day.

Given that films rarely open on a Wednesday in October, it is difficult to project the film’s five-day pace at this point and it is still possible that business for This Is It could really pick up over the weekend. But for that to happen, This Is It will need to perform exceptionally well on Friday, as its Saturday performance could be greatly limited by the Halloween holiday.

Although This Is It wasn’t as big as advertised on Wednesday, most holdovers were affected greatly nonetheless by the much hyped film. Paramount’s Paranormal Activity fell one spot and 14 percent from Tuesday to finish the day in second with $1.47 million. That still represented one of the day’s better daily holds among wide releases and the low-budget horror film was down just 11 percent from last Wednesday. Paranormal Activity has grossed $66.61 million in 34 days and is in good shape to experience a strong hold over the Halloween weekend.

Overture’s Law Abiding Citizen was down 23 percent and one spot from Tuesday to fall to third place. The action-thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler grossed $0.91 million, which was down 41 percent from last Wednesday. Law Abiding Citizen (which is already Overture’s highest grossing film to date) has grossed $43.16 million through 13 days and could see another solid hold this weekend.

Warner's Where the Wild Things Are was down 15 percent from Tuesday and down a steep 54 percent from last Wednesday, but was still able to hold steady in fourth place. The Spike Jonze directed adaptation of the popular children’s book grossed $0.72 million, which brings its 20-day total to $55.95 million. Where the Wild Things Are opened strong, but has only been able to generate a total gross to opening weekend ratio of 1.71 to 1 thus far.

Lionsgate’s Saw VI was down one spot and a sharp 24 percent to finish in fifth. The R-rated horror sequel grossed $0.68 million and experienced the day’s largest daily decline among wide releases. That isn’t a good sign, especially after the film’s disappointing start last weekend. With Halloween falling on Saturday, the film’s second weekend fall could be softened somewhat, but Saw IV is on course to fade away very quickly from theatres regardless.