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Jay Barney: I have not seen the film, nor have I seen any of the others in this franchise, but the only way this is not seen as a success is from the quality discussion. A 28% rating from RT is not the nail in the coffin of this movie or for this series, and the bad news pretty much stops there.

Any studio that puts $5 million into a product and earns six times that much on opening weekend is onto something. Audiences are paying to see these movies, even if it disappoints many of us, but the proof is in the money. Regardless of quality, Paramount has to be VERY happy with this result. It is hard to imagine just how giddy they must be with these numbers. They have a franchise they can go to the bank with every Halloween and not be at all concerned with what the final numbers will be. Even if Paranormal Activity 4 drops like a stone in the next few weeks, which it probably will, franchise fatigue shouldn't even be mentioned. Sure, are fewer and fewer people interested in this product? Yes. Does it matter as long as Paramount is making a ton of money each year? No. Paramount is smiling...glowing over this one.

Max Braden: Shockingly, this isn't the highest opening for a horror movie this year. That “honor” goes to The Devil Inside back in January, which opened to $33 million but couldn't even make another $20 million over the rest of its run before audiences chased it out of town with torches and pitchforks. And Paranormal Activity 4's opening is pretty impressive compared to the $20 million and under openers for the other horror movies this year. This series reminds me of Jackass - you pretty much know what's coming, and some people like that, other people (probably the reviewers here) are looking for something new. If it works for the target audience and makes money, there's no reason to stop. After all, there are 31 films in just the three franchises of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween (including later reboots).

David Mumpower: This conversation ties together multiple ideas at once. We have discussed the undeniable fact that Paranormal Activity 4 will prove wildly profitable. We have also evaluated that the dramatic downturn in opening weekend revenue from Paranormal Activity 3 signifies declining interest in the product. Any sequel that earns merely 55% of its immediate predecessor indicates an eroding franchise. To wit, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance earned 49% of Ghost Rider on opening weekend. The horror analogue is Saw VI, which grossed only 47% of Saw V. Clearly, this is a scary total for the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise and not in the fun way.

The conversation circles back to that premise that the previous film's quality directly correlates to the opening weekend of its successor. With regards to Paranormal Activity 3, I vividly recall our singing the franchise's praises last year for patiently refusing to move forward with the story. Instead, the history of the characters kept being traced back further, this time in the 1980s. We believed that this would pay dividends when the action finally moved forward again from the events at the end of Paranormal Activity. What has happened instead is that sequel fatigue has wiped out the Paranormal Activity franchise right as it was getting to the fireworks factory.

Kim Hollis: I think that like any horror franchise, Paranormal Activity is just seeing some natural audience erosion. It’s accelerating more quickly than seems appropriate, and I wonder if that isn’t at least in part because these films almost lend themselves more naturally to watching at home. Sure, there’s something about seeing a scary movie with a crowd, but now that the novelty has worn off, people might just be willing to wait a few months and then catch up with Katie Featherston and her demonic activities at that point.

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