Paranormal Not Scaring Up as Much Box Office Activity as It Used To
Steve Barton
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Box Office Mojo
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Paranormal Activity 4, to no one’s surprise, ruled the box office this weekend. What might be somewhat surprising is how much less money it opened to compared to previous installments. Are audiences finally tiring of Toby’s antics?
Box Office Mojo reports Paranormal Activity 4 opened #1 with $30.2 million. Under normal circumstances that would be great considering how cheap these movies are to produce. However, given the previous PA sequels opened to $40 and $52 million, respectively, Part Four’s $30 million is such a steep decline it can only be considered disappointing and potentially worrisome to those involved that this gravy train is beginning to derail.
Don’t cry for Paramount or Oren Peli just yet; again, the budgets on these films are so low and international box office still strong enough to guarantee many more Paranormal Activities for years to come. But they had better start expecting increasingly diminishing returns, especially with PA4 garnering mostly bad reviews and a poor word-of-mouth (a “C” Cinemascore).
Related Story: Paranormal Activity 5 a Go and More on Upcoming Latino-Themed Spin-Off
Hotel Transylvania continues to be the surprise hit of the Halloween season. Holding strong in third place with another #11.2 million, that brings its domestic total alone to $119 million. Sorry, Frankenweenie, looks like you were a week late and about a hundred million dollars short.
In what should come as no surprise given its direct competition with Paranormal Activity 4, Sinister dropped 50% to 6th place with $9 million. Have to wonder if PA4 cut more into Sinister’s box office this weekend or if Sinister siphoned off about $9 million from people weary of the PA franchise.
Nothing this weekend was probably more horrifying than the prospects of watching Tyler Perry try to act in a role he either wrote for himself or has him running around in drag. The Alex Cross reboot Tyler Perry was cast in specifically because of what a box office sensation the producers believed him to be could only muster a 5th place, $11 million opening. Maybe if they had Tyler Perry hunting serial killers while dressed like Madea as “Alex Crossdresser,” it might have been a bigger hit.
Next weekend we find out if a 3D Silent Hill sequel truly is a revelation. Until then, here’s Screen Junkies’ “honest” trailer for Paranormal Activity.
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