While "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was busy crossing the $200 million box office threshold, director Oren Peli's "found footage" horror flick "Paranormal Activity" quietly slipped past $100 million in box office receipts. Not a bad haul for a movie that cost less than $15,000 to make.

It's been an impressive run from multiple angles, really. "Paranormal" was completed in 2007 and screened for festival audiences in 2008. It was picked up for release, shuffled around as studio forces re-aligned, pegged for a total re-do and ultimately trickled out slowly into theaters by way of an ingenious marketing campaign that ostensibly gave fans the power to bring the movie to their city. Anticipation worked up to a fever pitch and the flick opened wide to unprecedented numbers. Read more...

"Paranormal Activity" is one of the most impressive theatrical releases of the year, what with its miniscule budget and still-rapidly-climbing box office performance. As a result, everyone has been all sorts of curious to hear more about director Oren Peli's next project, titled "Area 51."

Peli has been adamant in his refusal to share any details about the movie, which is described as another "found footage" effort in the vein of "Paranormal." In the two times I've interviewed him, I don't even think he repeated the title; every question on the subject is greeted with a "no comment." Now, the first details have come to light. I hesitate to even post about it, since it falls into the realm of "leak." Needless to say, tread carefully, readers... spoilers lie ahead. Read more...

1. "A Christmas Carol" ($31 million)
2. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($14 million)
3. "The Men Who Stare At Goats" ($13.3 million)
2. "The Fourth Kind" ($12.5 million)
5. "Paranormal Activity" ($8.6 million)

Did Ebenezer Scrooge learn his lesson at the box office this weekend? It's difficult to say, as the Jim Carrey-starring "A Christmas Carol" certainly took the top prize with a $31 million weekend, though the result is considered relatively disappointing given the film's potential draw to family crowds and its hefty budget of $200 million. The odds of the holiday movie recouping that number anytime soon are rather small, though we've certainly seen stranger box office occurrences lately. Read more...

--Paramount is actively working on plans for a "Paranormal Activity" sequel. While a sequel would clearly lose the surprise factor that's made the Oren Peli-directed horror film such a success, folks behind the film insist that they can "come up with the right creative and marketing approach." (THR)

--On the flip side, studio heads at Sony are hoping that Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp are up for a "District 9" sequel, but the producer-director pair is allegedly holding off until they "figure out what the story is and organize their respective schedules." Sony's hopes are hardly surprising as "District 9" has officially crossed the $200 million threshold, a fantastic result based on the movie's $30 million budget. (Deadline Hollywood Daily) Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: As expected, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was the box-office champion over the Halloween weekend, taking in an estimated $21.3 million in the United States. The bigger news was that the documentary chronicling the King of Pop's final rehearsals for his planned 50-show comeback residency in London banked more than $101 million worldwide.

The totals easily made "This Is It" the #1 movie in America, beating out the still-strong thriller "Paranormal Activity," which was second with $16.5 million. Fans who didn't wait in line or rush out to see "This Is It" during its first few days in theaters also got a reprieve, as Sony Pictures — the studio that paid $60 million for the rights to release the film — announced that the planned two-week-only engagement will now be extended through Thanksgiving.

Continue reading 'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Banks $100 Million Around The Globe

Big shock there, right? A decade after the release of "The Blair Witch Project," we have director Oren Peli's found-footage supernatural thriller "Paranormal Activity" setting Hollywood ablaze with an record setting box office performance in comparison to its miniscule, sub-$15,000 budget. So it's no wonder that the "Blair Witch" creators, in many ways the progenitors of this sort of phenomenon, are looking to bring it back home to their original success story.

We heard back in August from co-directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick that "Blair Witch 3" talk was happening, but Sanchez spoke to The Star last week a little more about how those talks are shaping up so far (via Latino Review). Read more...

1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($21.3 million)
2. "Paranormal Activity" ($16.5 million)
3. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($7.3 million)
3. "Couples Retreat" ($6.1 million)
5. "Saw VI" ($5.6 million)

Would-be moviegoers opted for a weekend filled with trick-or-treating, costume partying and other similar shenanigans in celebration of Saturday night's Halloween, with a select few heading into movie theaters as a way to embrace the holiday. But it wasn't the ghost and slasher-heavy horror flicks that won the weekend — instead, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" commanded the box office with a $21.3 million first place finish. Read more...

1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($7.9 million)
2. "Paranormal Activity" ($6.1 million)
3. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($2.42 million)
4. "Couples Retreat" ($2.38 million)
5. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($1.9 million)

There are ghosts and serial killers aplenty in movie theaters this Halloween weekend, but it appears that moviegoers are looking to celebrate the haunted festivities with none other than Michael Jackson.

The deceased pop sensation is the subject of "Michael Jackson's This Is It," the Sony distributed documentary chronicling Jackson's rehearsals for a massive concert series that never came to pass due to his death. "This Is It" unsurprisingly wound up in first place on Friday evening with $7.9 million, which brings the film's cumulative total to $19.1 million since its opening last Wednesday — but the Jackson documentary hasn't moonwalked all the way to the bank, certainly not in the way that Sony and concert promoter AEG had expected. Read more...

As director Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity" continues its seemingly unstoppable march into the Halloween weekend, it's a good idea for us all to take a step back and consider exactly why it is so successful. The horror genre isn't exactly imperiled, but there are those in the fan community -- myself included -- who contend that so much attention has been brought to bear on delivering lifelike special effects and moment-to-moment thrills that the all-important element of suspense has been cast aside.

There's plenty of evidence to support the theory. Whatever your interest level in recent efforts such as "Halloween II" and "Saw VI" may be, they are clearly not subtle. "Paranormal," on the other hand, is highlighted by a slow-building terror. There's nary a drop of blood nor exposed innard to be found, and yet it's hard to sit and watch without squirming uncomfortably as the demon's tortures grow more overt. As Peli told us in a recent interview, that was the plan all along. Read more...

Last week, I asked you "Paranormal Activity" fans to send in some questions that I could put to director Oren Peli during our interview. You obliged, I asked him the questions and I've got the answers now. First, some statistics.

"Paranormal Activity" has performed staggeringly well as its opened wider and wider. With more than $65 million now in the bank on a movie that cost less than $15,000 to make, it is officially the most profitable movie of all time. That's a 434,000 percent return on Peli's initial investment, a number that will likely grow exponentially as we enter the Halloween weekend. You can read more about this record-breaking performance in Eric Ditzian's report on MTV.com. For now though, hit the jump and see your questions answered! Read more...