The FINANCIAL — Paramount Pictures’s low-budget thriller, "Paranormal Activity," took the top spot at the box office this weekend, beating out "Saw VI”, Lionsgate's sixth entry in its annual "Saw" franchise. "Paranormal Activity," cost only about $15,000 to produce.
After a little more than a month in theaters, "Paranormal Activity" has taken in about $62.5 million and appears poised to become a blockbuster on the order of “The Blair Witch Project” or “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” — tiny films that took in hundreds of millions of dollars at the worldwide box office, The New York Times reported.
Paramount's chairman, Brad Grey, says the $15,000 film is the most profitable movie in the studio's modern-day history, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Obviously, it's a bit of a miracle," he says, noting that Paramount's production, marketing, and distribution teams have worked hard to make the film succeed. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
The same source reported that the film played at fewer than 2,000 locations this weekend but will expand further for Halloween.
Paramount’s good luck came at the expense of Lionsgate, whose “Saw VI” placed second for the weekend in North American theaters, with just $14.8 million in ticket sales, according to The New York Times. It was by far the weakest opening for any of the films in the torture-tinged franchise that began with “Saw,” which had about $18.3 million in ticket sales on its late-October opening weekend in 2004 and went on to take in about $55.2 million at the domestic box office.
The “Saw” series peaked with its second entry, which opened to about $31.7 million in ticket sales in 2005 and had about $87 million in total sales. Later films in the series had similarly strong openings, but less total business as the audience shifted toward other sensations, the same source reported.
Paramount has spent less than $10 million on marketing, "Paranormal, which the studio acquired for just $300,000, according to the Wall street journal. Using a special online service called "Demand it!" the studio had audiences go online to ask for the film in their local theaters. "The marketing team found an extraordinary way to reach people with this viral campaign," says Grey, "which was important since they had to work with a demand from me that they spend as little money as possible."
The same source reported that "Paranormal Activity" is a fictional work made to look like a grainy home movie, a tactic reminiscent of the faux cinéma vérité horror flick "The Blair Witch Project." That low-budget movie also went on to make big profits.
With Halloween approaching, studios have been pushing a range of scary fare. On the more sophisticated side, “Where the Wild Things Are,” an adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s monster-filled children’s book, placed third for Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures, according to The New York Times. In its second weekend, the film had $14.2 million in ticket sales, for a total of about $54 million.
Here are the official studio estimates for this weekend's top 10 movies in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo:
1. Paranormal Activity, $22 million; $62.5 million, fifth week
2. Saw VI, $14.8 million, first week
3. Where the Wild Things Are, $14.4 million; $54 million, second week
4. Law Abiding Citizen, $12.7 million; $40.3 million, second week
5. Couples Retreat, $11.1 million; $78.2 million, third week
6. Astro Boy, $7 million, first week
7. The Stepfather, $6.5 million; $20.4 million, second week
8. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, $6.3 million, first week
9. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, $5.6 million; $115.2 million, sixth week
10. Zombieland, $4.3 million; $67.3 million, fourth week
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