With the surprisingly strong $41.5 million box-office opening of “Paranormal Activity 2,” which is being touted as the biggest 3-day streak ever for a horror film, Paramount Pictures has a remarkably successful new franchise on their hands.
Made for only $3 million, in line with the original film’s low-budget frights, “Paranormal Activity” and its sequel will go down in movie history books as among the industry’s most profitable films ever.
Related:
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “Paranormal Activity 2,” $41.5 million.
2. “Jackass 3D,” $21.6 million.
3. “Red,” $15 million.
4. “Hereafter,” $12 million.
5. “The Social Network,” $7.3 million.
6. “Secretariat,” $6.9 million.
7. “Life as We Know It,” $6.2 million.
8. “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” $3.2 million.
9. “The Town,” $2.7 million.
10. “Easy A,” $1.8 million.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20101024/ent-box-office-101024/
Movie Review.
It’s that time of the year again. That time when movie theaters are stocked with sequels from countless franchises that we trust will chill our bones as we devote our hard-earned money in return.
But out of the ashes from the demise of some horror series (such as the Saw movies; 3D = Desperate) emerges a new franchise, one that shocked audiences only a year ago on a modest budget of $15,000. From one surveillance camera in a bedroom, Paranormal Activity crawled into the psyche of what exactly goes down after we fall asleep. And as the torch is passed to Paranormal Activity 2, it’s needless to say that yet another real-estate agent forgot to mention some small details when giving the open-house tour.
When we last left Katie and Micah, the young couple who moved into a haunted house in Paranormal Activity, things ended on a rather sour note. The two moved into a new home, things got a little weird, demonic spirits possessed Katie to murder her boyfriend, you know, the usual scary movie plot. Paranormal Activity 2 takes on the role of a prequel to the first movie, with the events taking place before Katie and Micah’s relationship became just a little stale.
The premise of the film remains pretty much the same in this newest installment. Newlyweds Dan and Kristi, who is Katie’s sister, Dan’s daughter Ali, and their newborn son Hunter move into a new home, where life just seems perfect. But soon, their maid, Martine, notices the presence of restless spirits in the house, and she is eventually fired for her paranormal assumptions. This only leads to more unexplained events that raise the age-old haunted-house question, “Why don’t you move after the second time the house locks you out?”
You basically know what to expect in the film, but that’s where all the fun lies. You know that the first 30 minutes will be very subtle, with the occasional door opening by itself or a loud noise to lure you in. You know that the next 30 minutes will feature slightly more haunting experiences, with the development of a plot to maintain cinematic structure. And you should also know that the last 30 minutes will be pure insanity and the one person whom you don’t want to see die will end up disappointing you in the end.
The plot is pretty much the stereotypical haunted-house flick, but that’s besides the point. You get your money’s worth with the last 15 minutes, including the climactic scene shot entirely in nighttime vision, which involves Dan trying to get Hunter from the demon-possessed Kristi. But half of the terror and suspense in Paranormal Activity 2 is waiting for all this to happen: the anticipation of what the camera will capture at 3:33 a.m. is arguably more terrifying than what actually happens at 3:33 a.m.
I did like that the movie takes place before the timing of the first and that the main characters of this second installment share a relationship with the main characters from the first film as well. The bottom line is that Paranormal Activity 2 does its job of getting audience members to jump out of their seats, bite their nails, and shout abruptly in terror every time a door slams shut. And that’s all that really matters this time of year.
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