So, I found this eerie video footage of some guy counting the box office receipts for the weekend. I’d show it to you, but it’s really way too scary to put it on the Internet for everyone to see. But here’s essentially what happens:
He’s in this darkened office, surrounded by stacks and stacks of papers, tabulating figures on his desktop as his webcam hums away. And then, behind him, the door opens! It opens! And this shadowy wraith sort of thing enters the room! And the guy doesn’t notice! Are you getting scared yet?! And then—get this—the shadowy thing leans over, so that he’s nearly touching the guy’s head, and whispers into the guy’s ear!
And what did the wraith say? Well, it was really, really hard to discern, but after replaying it a few times, I finally caught a handful of words. And it went something like:
“Paranormal Activity 4 … 30.2 million dollars … Number 1 … enough to make another sequel …”
Sure enough, the R-rated fright-flick Paranormal Activity 4 did manage to scare up an estimated $30.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That was practically twice what second-place Argo collected ($16.6 million) and enough to cement the series as one of the most lucrative in moviedom. The original Paranormal Activity, you’ll recall, was made for about two bucks (give or take) and made $193.4 million worldwide. And while this fourth installment cost a bit more to make (about $5 million), that’s still a tidy little profit.
That said, there are signs that the franchise may be wearing a bit thin. That $30.2 million is a far lower debut than either Paranormal Activity 2 ($40.7 million) or 3 ($52.6 million) mustered. At this rate, we might need to only deal with, oh, another seven or eight installments before the series draws to an end.
Hotel Transylvania flapped into the No. 3 slot this week with $13.5 million, finishing in a virtual dead heat with two-time champ Taken 2 ($3.4 mil). But both movies easily topped the week’s other major newcomer Alex Cross, which mustered just $11.8 million for fifth place.
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