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Wednesday
14Oct2009

The Increased Activity for 'Paranormal Activity'

DateWednesday, October 14, 2009 at 12:02AM
Even though Paramount always had hopes to expand Paranormal Activity into wide release, the online campaign to get people to demand the film in their cities has certainly paid off, as has the incredible buzz. The film finished the weekend in fourth place with nearly $8 million in ticket sales, far and away a record for a film playing in so few theaters.

The Hollywood Reporter says that while Paramount will eventually put the sub-$15,000 movie in over 2,000 theaters, but for now, the horror flick will jump from its current 160 locations to 800 on Friday, which should kick off a weekend in which the movie aims for something just a few bucks shy of $20 million.

What's really interesting is that the studio will probably go to 2,000 locations next weekend, the same day Halloween stalwart Saw returns to theaters. In the previous five years, horror movies have kept their distance from Saw, but now here's one that will stare it right in the eye.

Who wins? Good question. Paramount isn't promoting Paranormal Activity very much through the traditional channels because it doesn't need to at this point. Saw has the name recognition of course, but its quality and box office performance is slipping. If Paranormal had broken out this weekend instead of the one that just passed, I'd say this would be a runaway for Paranormal if it still jumped into a couple thousand theaters. It may not play out that way now, however.

Still, I like its chances to put a big enough dent in the Saw audience that we'll see more horror movies move to late October next year to face off with Saw.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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