Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

January 7, 2014

As far as you know, I was amazing!

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Max Braden: It doesn't surprise me that the Paranormal Activity series would be more of a flash in the pan than the Saw series. Saw has a stronger story arc with an identifiable villain and interesting means of demise. Paranormal Activity is more like scuffing up your socks on shag carpet and zapping each other. You know the shock is coming, it's not very interesting, but the shock value is still enough to have the players saying "do it again!" So I'm not surprised this movie made money over its budget yet again. I am a little surprised that they bothered with the theatrical expense rather than just releasing it directly to home video.

David Mumpower: I agree with the consensus opinion that the franchise has worn out its welcome. In fact, I suspect that the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise recognize the fading interest as well. The latest movie feels like a calculated attempt to capitalize on the brand while it has any remaining support. A low rent version of Paranormal Activity, a film series that was low rent from the start, represents a blatant cash grab. We will probably see a full reboot in a decade because these horror flicks are so easy to throw together. In the interim, there will almost assuredly be a couple of quick attempts to earn money based on name recognition alone. So I have to view The Marked Ones as the early warning signal of the next decade of Paranormal Activity. The bean counters are in charge now.

Kim Hollis: I think this feels like a transparent cash grab as well a cynical attempt to capitalize on the concept of niche marketing. With a Latino cast and some Spanish dialogue in the film, the studio appears to have been blatantly trying to pull that audience into theaters. It didn't work, because only 11% of moviegoers were Latino. The franchise started showing signs of decline with the fourth film, and I think that not only has this shown that people are tired of Paranormal Activity, I actually think it damages the fifth film set to come out in October as well. Sure, it's going to make money, but we saw last year that horror fans get really, truly excited for original, fresh ideas. It's just the epitome of laziness to keep releasing Paranormal Activity movies - essentially the same film over and over - several years running.




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Kim Hollis: Frozen returned to the #1 position this weekend after six weeks in theaters. Its weekend total was $19.6 million, and it is sitting with $296.7 million so far. Given what has transpired over the holidays, what are your updated thoughts about Frozen?

Jason Barney: These numbers for Frozen are fantastic, and you have to think that Disney is proud of what their product has been able to accomplish. The animated flick still isn't done, as January's box office is sometimes somewhat soft, and it is the #1 film in the country six weeks after release. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it does extremely well throughout January, and is still hanging around a bit in February. I know that sounds crazy for a movie that was released during Thanksgiving, but that is the reality. Domestically, it is going to probably end up in the $340 million range, but who knows? The holiday weekends are over from here on out, but when a film has had legs for this long, it seems unlikely for the momentum to suddenly stop. Worldwide, the totals are going to approach $700 or $725 million, which is just remarkable. If you would have said this film would out perform Man of Steel or the original Hunger Games at the worldwide box office, people would have given you funny looks. But that is the reality of how well Frozen has done.


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