Paranormal Activity is up!

By Keith Williams

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 10/25/09 — Proving moviegoers prefer a good BOO! to a disgusted UGH!, Paranormal Activity trounced Saw VI at the box-office this weekend by scaring up an estimated $22 million on 1945 haunted camcorders, leaving the annual LionsGate gross-out to hack a shockingly low $14.7  million in 3036 torture chambers.  Other new releases fared even less well with Astro Boy hurtling to earth with a less-than-dynamic $7 million from 3014 secret roboratories, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant withdrawing an anaemic $6.3 million from 2754 blood banks, and the Hilary Swank starrer, Amelia, crash-landing into 818 pacific atolls with $4 million.

Now in its ever-expanding fifth week of release, Paranormal Activity continues to amaze and delight executives at Paramount who never suspected it was their turn next to host the next Blair Witch-style phenomenon.  With $62.4 million accumulated to date, and Halloween still to come, don’t be surprised when this camcord cheapie not only crosses the $100 million benchmark but actually continues forging even further ahead.

Over in VileLand, the bell it would appear has started tolling for the Saw oeuvre, with numero 6 opening not only to far less than its predecessors but for the first time since its debut back in 2004 missing the top spot in the charts.  Aficionados of the series swear this is the best yet, but interest in torture-porn has waned considerably these past couple of years, dealt a death-blow back in 2007 with Hostel 2.  Saw defiantly kept the flag flying whilst others suffered a grislier fate than even its victims, but with Iraq no longer dominating the headlines with such issues as abuse at Abu Ghraib, the notoriety and novelty factor have gone.  Saw VII in 3D next year might revive interest, just like Final Destination 3D did recently, but with scare pix like Paranormal Activity turning the screws for a change, it’d be a major relief if execution pix had finally seen their day.

Last week’s chart-topper, Where the Wild Things Are fell an alarming 55.9% to rustle up $14.4 million, suggesting every father and son in the land has now seen it, and nobody else wants to.  Law Abiding Citizen dropped 39.6% for $12.7 million (no Taken in the maken after all), while at 5, Couples Retreat back-pedalled by 35.6% for $11 million of therapy.

Spluttering into 6th position, at a cost of $65 million, Astro Boy can only be regarded as a disaster, despite looking pretty cool from the trailer.  Was it the lack of 3D that sealed its doom?  Was it overdose-time on the part of audiences suffering a surfeit of too many animated features these past few months?  Or was it purely due to lack of interest in the main character, stemming either from ignorance or indifference?  For Summit, it’s yet another nail in the coffin containing all the non-Twilight flops they’ve released to date and no doubt will result in more virgins being sacrificed to ensure the success of New Moon (Twilight 2 for those with their braincells aimed elsewhere).

At 7, The Stepfather continued terrorising families, bullying $6.5 million from a 43.9% decline, followed by Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant debuting at 8.  Yet another messed-up attempt to create a Harry Potter-style franchise, it appears to have failed dismally.  Based on a series of books I’ve never heard of (and not too many other moviegoers by the looks of it), this PG-13 horror-lite was aimed at teenage boys who may well have read them at home but when it comes to actually paying to seeing them at the multiplex would definitely seem to prefer harder fare.  Reviews weren’t exactly enthusiastic, the posters confusing – kid film? family film? arthouse gorehound appeal? – and the cast, apart from John C Reilly, largely unknown.  The secret to a creatively and financially successful adaptation of much loved childrens’ books?  Don’t mess around with the source material, as The Golden Compass found to its cost, and Harry Potter, despite being initially stodgy, didn’t.

Meatballs remained cloudy at 9, taking $5.6 million ($115 million so far) on a 30.2% decline, Zombieland at 10 prepared to leave us for the lower depths of the charts with a drop in demand for eyeballs of 43.5%, grabbing $4.3 million on the way.

Lurking just out of reach of its top ten destination, Amelia, starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, barely made it off the runway at all.  From what would appear to be fascinating true material based on one of America’s most iconic heroines, a dull, boring bio-adaptation has been made, with director Mira Nair catching most of the flak.

Weekend Estimates courtesy leesmovieinfo.net