“Paranormal” Spoils Party for LionsGate, Universal
Paramount’s calculated distribution strategy for Paranormal Activity is more genius with each coming day as the movie maintains its threatening box office presence in its fourth running week, this week taking the cake for the #1 spot. With about $22 million in its first wide-release theatrical weekend and having already grossed more than $60 million, Paranormal is stunning the competition and eating into the reliable revenue once taken for granted by LionsGate’s Saw franchise.
Which lends the question: Is competition better or worse for the Saw franchise? If we look back to the days of The Blair Witch Project (1999), Warner Bros.’ Deep Blue Sea benefited enormously from the mere fact that Blair Witch was getting butts in seats. Horror fans ready for thrills and kills who were locked out of sold-out shows of Blair Witch ended up settling for the alternative. That being said, it will be interesting to see how Universal’s highly-anticipated The Fourth Kind will fare against movies of its own kind.
But forget about inter-genre competition for now. Paranormal is a paramount victory for horror as it proves a major force relative to all competition. Films like Warner Bros.’ Where the Wild Things Are and Overture Films’ Law Abiding Citizen that were hoping to generate buzz and rebound from last week’s initial box office surge can now come to terms with their lack of profitability. As for Universal’s The Vampire’s Assistant, well, thanks for playing.
Although Paranormal may be the sleeper in the box office game, the real winner is Sony Pictures after its success with Zombieland and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. This week Sony unleashes its secret weapon, Michael Jackson’s This is It, which is bound to make bank. Other than representing a shameless exploitation of a recent pop culture icon’s death, the documentary is probably going to straight-up suck. The film was also likely created in two and a half days. But props to Sony for attempting to herd cattle into theaters on this one. Oliver Stone would be proud. As for me, I’ll stick to the music videos.
Carmen Wexler is a Senior Writer for The Film Crusade.
