SAW: IT CAME; IT CONQUERED

It was only a moderate success at the Halloween box office, as such things are measured, but with $24.2 million in ticket sales, Saw 3D far surpassed Paranormal Activity 2, with which it was expected to wage a close race. Box office gurus had forecast that each film would take in about $20 million and […]

SAW 3D CARVES $24M OUT OF BOX OFFICE

Lionsgate’s Saw franchise seemed to get a new lease on death over the weekend (even though the studio had been touting the seventh film in the franchise as the final one), reinvigorated, it would appear, by 3D. Saw 3D took in $24.2 million according to studio estimates, $10 million more than the last installment of […]

THE HORROR! THE HORROR! 2

Halloween weekend is certain to be dominated by two low-budget horror flicks, with the debut of the seventh Saw movie, this one in 3D, expected to outdraw the second week of the intentionally low-tech Paranormal Activity 2. Last year the two franchises went head-to-head against each other with the first Paranormal, which expanded wide after […]

WILL 3D BREATHE LIFE INTO SAW FRANCHISE?

3D technology will undergo another commercial test this weekend when Lionsgate’s Saw VII wages a Halloween box office battle against the second weekend of Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2 — a purposefully low-tech, 2D affair. Several box-office analysts have observed that last year’s Saw VI left the franchise as bloodied and struggling for life as some […]

IMAX HELPS PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 SET HORROR RECORD

Paranormal Activity 2 did not suffer the sequel blues of most horror flicks. In fact it became the biggest horror-flick earner ever over the weekend, raking in $40,678,424, and taking the record set by last year’s Friday the 13th redo. Surprisingly what might have pushed the film over the top was its appearance on IMAX […]

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 SETS HORROR FILM RECORD

Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2 scared up an astounding $41.5 million at the box office over the weekend, according to the studio’s estimates, far exceeding analysts’ predictions and setting a weekend record for a horror film. The previous record was held by last year’s relaunch of the Friday the 13th franchise, which earned $40.5 million. That […]

PARAMOUNT A WEEKEND WINNER — NO MATTER WHAT

Two low-budget and low-tech Paramount movies will be battling one another for top honors at the box office this weekend as Paranormal Activity 2 takes on Jackass 3D. Most box-office forecasters are predicting that Paranormal Activity 2 will emerge the winner with about $25-30 million, with Jackass 3D settling for about $20-25 million in its […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times calls Paranormal Activity 2 “an efficient delivery system for Gotcha! Moments,” which he describes as those moments in a movie “when something is sudden, loud and scary.” The dialogue in the movie, he says, simply functions as “Gotcha! separators.” It is what it is, Ebert allows. “My audience jumped […]

MOVIE BUDGET GOES FROM PARANORMAL TO NORMAL

Paranormal Activity 2, which is being released at midnight tonight, cost $3 million to produce versus $15,000 for the original, despite the fact that the sequel retains most of the look and feel of the original. The difference in cost, according to the Los Angeles Times, can be explained largely by the fact that “Paramount […]

“PARANORMAL 2” TRAILER PULLED FROM TEXAS THEATERS

Paramount said on Wednesday that some Texas theaters had pulled the trailer for the upcoming Paranormal Activity 2 after receiving numerous complaints from patrons that the movie was too scary. The trailer began running in theaters in front of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on Wednesday. The PA2 trailer was also posted on YouTube and is […]