Paranormal Activity – Big Box Office, Tiny Budget

Posted by admin

October 26, 2009

paranormal-activity-poster I had been holding out on this topic for a while because I wasn’t sure if it would ever become more than a cult following. After last week’s box office numbers, however, a main stream success is at hand.

Two years ago, a micro tiny budget (allegedly around $15,000) was used to make a movie called Paranormal Activity. Needless to say, the movie stars no one you’ve ever heard of and the scares are earned primarily with suspense and psychological fear rather than special effects.

With user comments on imdb.com dating back to 2008, the movie has been available in one way or another for many months. Just five weeks age, however, Paranormal Activity received a limited theatrical release, and thanks to positive word of mouth, its success grew rapidly and rolled into a national release last week. The result? Number 1 at the box office with a $22 million haul over the weekend and $62.5 million raked in for the week, with the potential for a $100 million total gross by Halloween. Not bad for a movie that cost the same as a used car or one day of craft services on a Brad Pitt film.

The movie itself is similar in theme as The Blair Witch Project (which I hated, for the record) - presented as something “real” with a camcorder catching all of the action. While Paranormal Activity appears to be a runaway smash (critically and financially), prepare yourself for plenty of poor copycat films in the next year or two trying to capitalize on Paranormal Activity’s unusual success.