Monday Morning Quarterback
By BOP Staff
October 12, 2009
Reagen Sulewski: I haven't run the numbers for this year yet, but it definitely feels like we've had a bit of a turning-back-the-clock on legs. While there's still the incredible 60 and 70% drops, we've seen a lot more films manage 35, 30 or even 20% drops in their second weekends, and not just one a quarter. The notion of the value of word-of-mouth seems to be returning, and Zombieland is just the latest beneficiary of this.
David Mumpower: What Reagen is referencing is that as yet undefined but intriguing aspect of social media we're currently calling The Twitter Effect. People know what the majority opinion is and that can really crush a sucky film or it can carry one like Zombieland that has glowing word of mouth. This film has already made more than I was expecting it to earn in its domestic run. And I strongly encourage anyone reading this who hasn't seen it yet to make plans to do so as soon as possible. It's hard for me to imagine anyone coming away from this film feeling like they weren't entertained.Coming soon, to a theater near you...Kim Hollis: Paranormal Activity, a movie someone made at their house for $15,000, became the first film released in under 400 venues to finish in the top five at the box office. With $7.9 million and an increase in per location average of $16,129 last week to $49,690 this week, it's the new Blair Witch Project. When did you first hear of this movie and how shocked are you by this turn of events?
Michael Lynderey: I vaguely remember something with this title being scheduled for a limited release on September 25th, but the rest of the story seems a little blurry to me. When was this one okayed as a surprise word-of-mouth hit? I certainly missed the vote there. Seriously, though, Blair Witch had half a year's worth of buzz and anticipation, while Paranormal Activity came out of nowhere and just seems like a generic camera-in-your-face horror movie to me. Anyway, once Paranormal Activity gets to the kajillion dollar mark, I really hope it doesn't inspire a decade's worth of shaky-cam rip-offs. Blair Witch had the grace not to do that, but times have changed. You just can't trust horror movies these days. They turn on you.
Josh Spiegel: I heard about this movie a couple of weeks ago; even though I have absolutely no interest in it (my stony heart doesn't go much for faux-documentary horror movies like Blair Witch), it doesn't shock me that the movie is doing well. The ads, both online and on TV, are straight to the point. Moreover, using the old "See how people reacted to our movie!" bit works here, only heightening the possibility of scares. Finally, I think people are just looking for a different way to be scared than 3-D or cheapo sequels. Paranormal Activity is hitting the multiplexes at the right time.
Eric Hughes: I actually heard of this one a few months ago. (They were conducting free screenings of it as they do on streets here in L.A.). But based on the posters and lit they were passing out, I figured it was some low budget crapfest and declined to check it out. Then the firestorm happened. Honestly, based on the fact that this one quickly hit more than 1,000,000 demands on Eventful (and thus will have a nationwide release) AND was the #1 trending topic on Twitter for most of the weekend, its huge haul didn't shock me. I didn't know what the number would be, but I knew it would be significant.
Tim Briody: I'm still trying to stop feeling old that The Blair Witch Project was 10 years ago, but I had not heard of Paranormal Activity until its initial release in 13 "college towns" designed to build up buzz. Looking at the journey it's taken to get this far, including a planned remake that was scrapped when they decided to just release the original film straight from the camcorder, this is still a truly remarkable story (despite the comparisons to Blair Witch) and the success is definitely impressive.
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