LOS ANGELES, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Low-budget fright film 'Paranormal Activity' scored a kill over the sixth picture in the perennial 'Saw' franchise, with a pre-Halloween weekend box office draw of $22 million.
Lionsgate's 'Saw VI' took in $14.8 million.
'Paranormal' went into wide release by Paramount after playing to sellout crowds at midnight-only screenings over the past few weekends in a handful of markets determined by online balloting.
Taking a page from the playbook of 1999's underground smash 'The Blair Witch Project,' the Viacom Inc unit is letting the fans do the marketing through such social-networking sites as Twitter. Its own marketing costs have been minimal.
Paramount bought the $15,000 movie last year at the Slamdance Film Festival, an indie rival of the concurrent Sundance festival in Utah.
Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
Last weekend's top movie, 'Where the Wild Things Are,' which was adapted from the acclaimed Maurice Sendak children's book, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $14.4 million.
'Wild Things' was released by Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros Pictures.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Eric Walsh) Keywords: BOXOFFICE/ (deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; 1-213-955-6746; Reuters Messaging: deena.beasley.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Lionsgate's 'Saw VI' took in $14.8 million.
'Paranormal' went into wide release by Paramount after playing to sellout crowds at midnight-only screenings over the past few weekends in a handful of markets determined by online balloting.
Taking a page from the playbook of 1999's underground smash 'The Blair Witch Project,' the Viacom Inc unit is letting the fans do the marketing through such social-networking sites as Twitter. Its own marketing costs have been minimal.
Paramount bought the $15,000 movie last year at the Slamdance Film Festival, an indie rival of the concurrent Sundance festival in Utah.
Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
Last weekend's top movie, 'Where the Wild Things Are,' which was adapted from the acclaimed Maurice Sendak children's book, dropped to the No. 3 spot with $14.4 million.
'Wild Things' was released by Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros Pictures.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Eric Walsh) Keywords: BOXOFFICE/ (deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; 1-213-955-6746; Reuters Messaging: deena.beasley.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
