Fans Reward Paranormal Activity with Sold-Out Shows and $500K

Steve Barton |

Oct 3, 2009

Every once in a while the stars align and good things happen to this genre we all call our own — and to the people who make the movies we love. Case in point: Every single screening of Paranormal Activity sold out last night, and the film is looking to rake in $500,000 for the weekend. Hearty congrats to filmmaker Oren Peli and to Paramount, which has executed a textbook successful marketing campaign for the film.

Per today’s Deadline Hollywood, Paranormal Activity enjoyed a $15,000 per screen average, pretty much unheard of for midnight only showings. “It did $150K Thursday and took in another $200K on Friday after selling out every theater. What began as a heavy screening plan and college outreach to get fans to make it their own morphed last week into a release in 12 college towns doing only midnight shows. Some $80K business later, Paramount added 21 midnight screens this week, including LA’s ArcLight (which sold out its 15 midnight shows for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday combined).

Next week, Paranormal Activity will expand to somewhere around 100 screens playing full day schedules. It will be interesting to see how big the overall fan base is after the college Facebook/Twitter folks have really embraced this film and made it their own.”

Make sure you’re part of the phenomenon. DEMAND IT for your town, too!