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Paranormal Activity

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Paranormal Activity
Theatrical release poster
Directed byOren Peli[1]
Written byOren Peli
Produced bySteven Schneider[2]
Jason Blum[2]
StarringKatie Featherston
Micah Sloat
Edited byOren Peli
Distributed byParamount Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures
Release dates
October 14, 2007 (2007-10-14)
(Screamfest Film Festival)
September 25, 2009
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15,000[3]
Box office$141,870,499[4]

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 independent horror film written and directed by Oren Peli.[5] It premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in the U.S. on October 14, 2007, and was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. The film received a limited release in several U.S. cities on October 9, 2009, and had a nationwide release on October 16, 2009.[6] The movie centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. The movie is presented using "found footage" from the camera set up by the couple to capture what is haunting them. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on December 29, 2009.

The film is considered the most profitable ever made, having earned over $100 million at the U.S. box office alone, on a reported budget of $15,000.[7][8][9] However, such figures are difficult to verify independently[10] and exclude marketing costs.[11]

The ghost think she is hot and he wants to rape her that is why i is following but that ghost has a bad taste. and the other like to sniff (cocaine)and the guy deserves to die:D muhahahahah

Alternate versions

Several different versions of the film exist.[12] The ending shown in theaters for the movie's nationwide and worldwide release does not match endings previously seen at the Screamfest and Burbank screenings.[13][14]

Original version

The original cut of the film, which was sent to potential distributors, was longer at 97 minutes. Several scenes present in the theatrical version were absent, such as Katie discovering her keys on the floor and Micah's picture being slashed. The original cut also included an extended scene involving internet video footage of a possessed girl (whose story on the internet was read by Micah) chewing off her own arm.

This version's ending did not involve Micah's body being thrown at the camera, but instead featured Katie returning to the bedroom, after the struggle heard downstairs, wielding a knife with blood on her tank top. She then sits next to the bed and rocks back and forth in a catatonic state throughout the remainder of the following day. Her friend Amber calls the house, and later arrives, discovering Micah's body downstairs. When police officers arrive, Katie comes out of her catatonic state and confused, approaches them. The officers instruct her to drop the knife, but shoot her after being startled by a door suddenly slamming behind them. The movie ends with audio of the police discovering the camera as the credits roll.[15]

Third version

A third version of the film was shown at only one public viewing.[16] This version's ending featured Katie returning to the bedroom with the knife and slitting her own throat in view of the camera. This ending is included on the DVD and Blu-ray disc of the film.[12][15]

Cast

  • Katie Featherston as Katie
  • Micah Sloat as Micah
  • Mark Fredrichs as the Psychic
  • Amber Armstrong as Amber
  • Ashley Palmer as Diane (girl on Internet)
  • Randy McDowell as Lt. Randy Hudson (original version)
  • Tim Piper as Richard (original version)
  • Crystal Cartwright as Exorcism Nanny (original version)

Production

First-time director Oren Peli had been afraid of ghosts his entire life, even fearing the comedy film Ghostbusters, but intended to channel that fear into something positive and productive.[17] Peli took a year to prepare his own house for shooting, going so far as to repaint the walls, add furniture, put in a carpet, and build a stairwell.[18] In this time, he also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and demonology, stating, "We wanted to be as truthful as we could be." The reason for making the ghost in the story a demon was a result of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being "demons".[19] The phenomena in the film takes place largely at night—the vulnerability of being asleep, Peli reasoned, taps into a human being's most primal fear, stating, "If something is lurking in your home there's not much you can do about it."[19]

Attempting to focus on believability rather than action and gore, Peli chose to shoot the picture with a hand-held home video camera. In deciding on a more raw and stationary format (the camera was almost always sitting on a tripod or something else) and erasing the need for a camera crew, a "higher degree of plausibility" was created for the audience as they were "more invested in the story and the characters".[19] Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" used in the making of The Blair Witch Project.[19] In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting actress Katie Featherston and actor Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and then called them back so that they could audition together. Peli was impressed with the chemistry the actors showed saying, "If you saw the [audition] footage, you would've thought they had known each other for years."[19] During a guest appearance on the Jay Leno show dated Nov. 3, 2009, Sloat and Featherston both commented how they auditioned for the role and how they found the casting call advertising on Craigslist. Sloat related that certain parts of the film had to be redone to add more emotion to their characters such as the intimate kissing scenes. Featherston noted they were paid $500 at the time of the original filming of the project.

The film was shot out of sequence due to the time constraints (a self-imposed 7-day shooting schedule),[17] though Peli had wanted the story to unfold for the actors as he had envisioned it. Sloat, who took most of the shots in the film, was a former cameraman at his university's TV station. "It was a very intense week," Peli recalled, stating that the film would be shot day and night, edited at the same time, and would have the visual effects applied to it as the acting footage was being finalized.[19]

Post-production and distribution

After the film was finished, Peli signed with the Creative Artists Agency. They screened the movie in 2007 at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival and, as a result, began to give away DVDs to anybody who would be willing to distribute it. It did not see a spotlight until 2007 when Miramax Films Senior Executive Jason Blum and his producing partner, Steven Schneider, viewed the movie for themselves. Working with Blum, Peli edited the film down so that it ran tighter and smoother but more problems arose: Sundance Film Festival would not accept the film and even though the Slamdance Film Festival did, no distributor picked up the movie for major distribution.[17] In 2008, the DVD ended up at DreamWorks and was viewed by Production Executive Ashley Brooks. Brooks was so impressed by the movie that she "pestered" her boss, Production Chief Adam Goodman, every day to see the film until he eventually saw it. Goodman, in turn, brought it to his boss, Studio Chief Stacey Snider. They were impressed by the film as well and handed the DVD to Steven Spielberg, who took it home to watch.[17]

Spielberg soon helped greenlight a remake to be produced by Jason Blum and directed by Oren Peli again. Paramount acquired the domestic rights to the film, and international rights to potential sequels, for $300,000 USD.[20] "They didn't know what to do with [the movie]," Blum stated about the remake, adding that they just wanted to be "in business" with Peli.[17] The original deal for the movie stipulated that Oren Peli would direct and that the DVD would have the original film included with it so the public would get an idea of what the original film was about. However, during contract negotiations, Blum and Peli negotiated a one-time screening into the contract to see how a real audience would react to the original film. As part of the deal, Adam Goodman invited several screenwriters to the screening so that they could get an idea about what to write and see what should be added and subtracted to the remake's script.[17]

At the screening, people began walking out; Goodman was afraid that he made the wrong decision and that the screening was a bomb until he learned (in a twist reminiscent of the famous screening of 1979's Alien) that the viewers were actually truly frightened by the film and were leaving for that reason. It was at this point that Goodman canned all thoughts of a Hollywood remake and decided to release Peli's version of the film.[17] The film was supposed to be released in 2008 but was delayed further because of the rift between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. While the movie was stuck in limbo, Oren Peli and Jason Blum screened the film for international buyers at a theater in Santa Monica along with a sold-out crowd consisting mostly of teenagers. This further cemented the film's reputation and Peli and Blum sold the international rights to 52 different countries.[17] The buzz generated by this and the positive word-of-mouth finally pushed Adam Goodman (who took over as Paramount's main exec) to release the film on the fall schedule.[17]

Release

On September 25, 2009, Paramount Pictures decided to release the movie in 13 different college towns across the United States. On his website, director Oren Peli invited internet users to "demand" where the film went next by voting on eventful.com.[21] The release of this movie marked the first time a major motion picture studio had used the service to virally market a film.[22] The movie managed to sell out 12 of the 13 showings.[23] On September 27, 2009, The L.A. Times Blog reported that Paramount was planning on releasing the film in several other markets based on the success of the initial limited release of the film.[23] On September 28, 2009, Paramount confirmed this report by issuing a press release on Oren Peli's official website. The press release announced that the release of the film would expand to 20 other markets as of Friday, October 2, 2009. This list included large-market cities that were excluded from the initial limited release such as New York and Chicago.[24]

On October 3, 2009, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20 markets sold out and that the movie had made $500,000 domestically. A day later, Paramount Pictures announced that the film would have a full limited release in 40 markets, playing at all hours (including after-midnight showings). The full limited release of the film started on Friday, October 9, 2009.[25][26][27] On Tuesday, October 6, Paramount and Eventful.com announced that the movie would be released nationwide if the movie got 1,000,000 "demands". On Saturday, October 10 at around 1:35 a.m. Eastern Time, the counter hit over 1,000,000 requests.[28][29] Paramount Pictures then announced later in the day that the film would get a wide domestic release on Friday, October 16 and then expand to more theaters on the 23rd.[30] By November 2009 it was showing in locales worldwide.

Home Release

Paranormal Activity was released on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc on December 29, 2009.[31]. The home release media includes an alternative ending not seen in theatrical version.[32] The alternate ending is the one in which Katie slits her own throat in front of the camera, then collapses to the floor.

Reception

Critical reception

Based on 175 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval 'certified fresh' rating from critics of 82%.[33] Movie critics James Berardinelli and Roger Ebert each awarded it 3.5 stars out of a maximum of 4 stars.[34][35] Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman gave Paranormal Activity an A- rating and called it "frightening...freaky and terrifying" and noted that "Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés."[36] Bloody Disgusting ranked the film sixteenth in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Peli deserves props for milking the maximum amount of tension out of the spare, modern setting – an ordinary, cookie-cutter tract home in San Diego. It doesn’t sound very scary, but Peli manages to make it terrifying. If you aren’t white-knuckling your armrest at least once or twice while watching it, you probably don’t have a pulse."[37]

Box office performance

The film opened on September 25, 2009, to 12 theaters taking $36,146 on its opening day and $77,873 on its first weekend for an average of $6,489 per venue. It took more success when it opened to 33 theaters on October 1, 2009, doubling the box office reception, grossing $532,242 for an average of $16,129 per venue, bringing the 10-day total to $776,763.[38]

As it expanded to 160 theaters on the October 9–11 weekend, the film grossed $2,659,296 on that Friday having a per-theater average of $16,621. It went on to gross $7,900,695, which was $800,000 more than originally estimated. Over the weekend, the film reached the week's highest per-theater average of $49,379, coming in at #4 for the weekend, behind Couples Retreat, Zombieland, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Over the weekend of October 16, 2009, Paranormal Activity expanded to 600 more theaters, grossing $19,617,650 with $25,813 per theater average gross, and bringing the total gross to $33,171,743. On the weekend of October 23, 2009, Paranormal Activity rose to #1, beating out the expected number one box office victor Saw VI, earning $21,104,070, expanding to 1,945 theaters for an average of $10,850 per theater, compared with the $14,118,444 gross from 3,036 theaters, and $4,650 average for Saw VI. The film has grossed $107,860,467 domestically and $34,000,000 in foreign markets, with a total gross of $141,860,467.[38][39]

Related media

Digital comics

In December 2009, a short digital comic entitled Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie was released for the iPhone.[40] It was penned by Scott Lobdell[41] and features art from Mark Badger[42]. It was then followed by a second comic entitled A Case Study by Dr. Johann Averys DMN.[43]

Possible sequel

On October 25, 2009, Paramount Pictures announced that a sequel to the film is being considered. Chairman Brad Grey said, "We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do 'Paranormal 2' and we're looking to see if that makes some sense."[44] On November 3, 2009, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman explained, "Given that a follow-up release wouldn't have the same element of surprise as "Paranormal," it will be key to craft a smart approach to a sequel... Our team will come up with the right creative and marketing approach."[45][46][47]

References

  1. ^ Exclusive: Director Oren Peli Talks Paranormal Activity
  2. ^ a b Rosenberg, Adam (2009-10-08). "'Paranormal Activity' Producers Hope To Channel Hitchcock For 'The Jealous One'". MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  3. ^ "Paranormal Activity Production Budget". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  4. ^ "Movie Paranormal Activity Box Office Data". The Numbers Box Office Data. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  5. ^ Oren Peli’s PARANORMAL Chronicles
  6. ^ Paranormal Activity – Release dates
  7. ^ http://www.thewrap.com/article/paranormal-now-most-profitable-film-ever-9335?page=1
  8. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2009/1030/how-paranormal-activity-became-the-most-profitable-movie-ever
  9. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/30/paranormal-activity-oren-peli
  10. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/25/paranormal-activity-box-office-profit
  11. ^ http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2009/10/30/paranormal-activity-the-most-profitable-movie-ever.html
  12. ^ a b Outlaw, Kofi (2009-10-21). "Paranormal Activity: Alternate Endings & Recut Scenes". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  13. ^ Anthony Breznican. "'Paranomal' has 'magical elixir' for horror: Realism, subtlety but not gore". USA Today. Retrieved 2009--10-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ^ "The Paramount Cut of Paranormal Activity: What's Different?". The Horror Effect. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  15. ^ a b Goss, William (2009-10-11). "So What Was 'Paranormal Activity's Original Ending?". AOL News. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  16. ^ Hall, Peter (2009-10-09). "Interview: Oren Peli, Writer-Director of 'Paranormal Activity'". Cinematical. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i John Horn. ""The haunted history of 'Paranormal Activity'" - L.A. Times". Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  18. ^ Barbara Vancheri,. ""The making of Paranormal Activity" - Post Gazette". Retrieved 2009-10-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  19. ^ a b c d e f Ryan Rotten. ""Exclusive Interview: Oren Peli" - ShockTilYouDrop.com". Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  20. ^ Ben Fritz. "Paramount may produce 'Paranormal Activity' sequel". Los Angeles Times.
  21. ^ Michael Cieply. ""Thriller on Tour Lets Fans Decide on the Next Stop" - New York Times". Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  22. ^ ""Demand Search for Film"". Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  23. ^ a b Ben Fritz. ""'Paranormal Activity' expanding after selling out nearly all midnight shows" - L.A. Times". Retrieved 2009-09-27.
  24. ^ ""More than 230,000 fans "demand" 'Paranormal Activity'; fans spur the film's opening in twenty additional cities across the country"". Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  25. ^ Uncle Creepy. ""Fans Reward Paranormal Activity with Sold-Out Shows and $500K" - DreadCentral.com". Retrieved 2009-10-03.
  26. ^ Nikki Finke. ""'Paranormal Activity' Gets Freakishly Good Gross Playing Only After Midnight" - Deadline: Hollywood". Retrieved 2009-10-03.
  27. ^ Mr. Disgusting. "Full Limited Release for 'Paranormal Activity' on October 9th - BloodyDisgusting.com". Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  28. ^ Adam Rosenberg. "'Paranormal Activity' To Open Nationwide After 1,000,000 Demands Are Received - MTV.com". Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  29. ^ Horror Victory! 'Paranormal Activity' Hits One Million Demands, Opens Wide!
  30. ^ Patrick Sauriol. ""Film Now Expands Nationwide" - Corona Coming Attractions". Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  31. ^ http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/34660/official-word-and-details-paranormal-activity-dvd-and-blu-ray
  32. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-Activity-2-Disc-Digital-Blu-ray/dp/B002VKE0XA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262129328&sr=8-2-spell
  33. ^ Paranormal Activity at Rotten Tomatoes
  34. ^ http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1822
  35. ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091007/REVIEWS/910089996
  36. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20309083,00.html
  37. ^ "00's Retrospect: Bloody Disgusting's Top 20 Films of the Decade...Part 2". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  38. ^ a b "Movie Paranormal Activity Box Office Data". The Numbers Box Office Data. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  39. ^ "Box Office Mojo: Weekend Box Office - November 27-November 29, 2009". 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  40. ^ First 5 Pages 'Paranormal Activity: The Search For Katie'
  41. ^ Get the Free Paranormal Activity App from iTunes
  42. ^ IDW Launches Paranormal Activity:The Search for Katie
  43. ^ 'Paranormal Activity' Comic Tells Sequel Tale...
  44. ^ Paramount may produce 'Paranormal Activity' sequel
  45. ^ More Paranormal Activity Sequel Talk
  46. ^ A 'Paranormal' Sequel Possible at Paramount
  47. ^ Paramount Thinking Outside of the Box for 'Paranormal' Sequel?

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paranormal_Activity&oldid=336697589"