Box Office Update: Safely Derailed

Well I'm feeling pretty confidant right now. Clearly not confidant enough to come up with a better title for this segment, but we can't expect all the problems with the world to be solved in one day, now can we? Needless to say that Megamind ended up keeping the top spot for one additional weekend, dropping a mere 35% despite the blunt force that Unstoppable was beginning to accumulate. Tony Scott's new thriller has a chance to post a higher total before the weekend is officially over, but I doubt it will end up topping the Dreamworks favorite. 3D sells when it is used properly and in service of a good story. As for Unstoppable, I'd much rather watch this SNL sketch that premiered last night than the actual film. You get the point easily from it.

Skyline didn't post a debut as high as analysts were expecting, though it somehow did break even this weekend due to a short budget. Morning Glory held up much better than I expected, though still nothing too impressive. Due Date dropped 52%, but only went down to third place, so it can still be called a success. Not as huge as The Hangover, but that's too much to hope for. For Colored Girls took to biggest drop of 65%, proving that audiences didn't quite adore it so much as expected. This weekend certainly paled in comparison to the same weekend last year, when 2012 opened in first with $65 million. Expect a huge increase next weekend when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 opens big while setting new records.

1. Megamind (Second Weekend; $30 million)
2. Unstoppable (First Weekend; $23.5 million)
3. Due Date (Second Weekend; $15.5 million)
4. Skyline (First Weekend; $11.7 million)
5. Morning Glory (First Weekend; $9.6 million)
6. For Colored Girls (Second Weekend; $6.8 million)
7. Red (Fifth Weekend; $5.1 million)
8. Paranormal Activity 2 (Fourth Weekend; $3.1 million)
9. Saw 3D (Third Weekend; $2.8 million)
10. Jackass 3D (Fifth Weekend; $2.3 million)

Box Office Update: Mind Over Mindless

This was a pretty phenomenal weekend at the box office, for both films deserving of it and undeserving. Working from the top down, Megamind rightfully took first place thanks to the boost from 3D as well as some positive reviews. It's barely above the opening weekend that How to Train Your Dragon sustained before becoming the sleeper hit of the year. Hopefully positive word of mouth will boost the action-comedy to similar status. Meanwhile, Todd Philips' Due Date took second place with an opening not quite as high as The Hangover. The film was opening against largely mixed reviews that might have narrowed the amount of customers for the new film.

On the bottom of the spectrum for newly released films is Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, which opened to pathetic reviews which dispel any Oscar hopes the film had. However, it is from the illogically appealing Tyler Perry, so I guess it was always destined for box office success. It took third with a rather hefty total, but as with all of Perry's films, it will take a hit from negative word of mouth. Red held as strong as it has been for a while, keeping a solid standing the top five where other have been falling out. Saw 3D took a beating, falling north of 60% to fifth place. In all, this was a huge improvement on last weekend, and the same weekend last year when A Christmas Carol opened at the top spot.

1. Megamind (First Weekend; $47.7 million)
2. Due Date (First Weekend; $33.5 million)
3. For Colored Girls (First Weekend; $20.1 million)
4. Red (Fourth Weekend; $8.9 million)
5. Saw 3D (Second Weekend; $8.2 million)
6. Paranormal Activity 2 (Third Weekend; $7.3 million)
7. Jackass 3D (Fourth Weekend; $5.1 million)
8. Hereafter (Fourth Weekend; $4 million)
9. Secretariat (Fifth Weekend; $4 million)
10. The Social Network (Sixth Weekend; $3.6 million)

Box Office Update: Oh, The Horror

I really do look forward to next weekend when I can get back to a more natural setting at the theaters. We've had quite a few weeks in which there's been only one notable release, and this weekend should've been a complete failure. It's what I expected, and it's what I actually hoped for. Instead, Saw 3D managed to rake in an dishonest living, grabbing the fifth highest opening weekend of the series. Of course, we should still expect it to take a huge dive next weekend, not only from competition in the 3D market with Megamind, but because of negative word of mouth.

Speaking of such word of mouth, it certainly took its toll on Paranormal Activity 2, which suffered a near 60% drop from last weekend. Jackass 3D took a similar drop of the same amount, but that can mostly be attributed to the fact that the film is really a one-and-done sort of affair. In any case, the film still passed the $100 million mark this weekend, so that's a plus. Oddly enough, Red overtook it this weekend, taking a steady 28% drop and remaining in third. In summation, this weekend was a good 8.1% rise from the same weekend last year.

1. Saw 3D (First Weekend; $24.2 million)
2. Paranormal Activity 2 (Second Weekend; $16.5 million)
3. Red (Third Weekend; $10.8 million)
4. Jackass 3D (Third Weekend; $8.4 million)
5. Hereafter (Third Weekend; $6.3 million)
6. Secretariat (Fourth Weekend; $5 million)
7. The Social Network (Fifth Weekend; $4.7 million)
8. Life as We Know It (Fourth Weekend; $4 million)
9. The Town (Fifth Weekend; $1.9 million)
10. Conviction (Third Weekend; $1.8 million)

Box Office Update: High Activity

Marking another splendid weekend of October this year, Paranormal Activity 2 came out on top and set a horror film opening weekend record for the month of August. Given these strong numbers, one can easily expect to see another sequel in the works for release next year. Jackass 3D took a great 57% fall from last week, but that was expected for an opening of such magnitude as well as such hardcore competition opening. Red held on even better with a 31% fall, boding well for the coming weeks. Finally, a fair few film-goers went out to see Hereafter out of curiosity, leading a decent opening weekend, but not Eastwood's best.

1. Paranormal Activity 2 (First Weekend; $41.5 million)
2. Jackass 3D (Second Weekend; $21.6 million)
3. Red (Second Weekend; $15 million)
4. Hereafter (First Weekend; $12 million)
5. The Social Network (Fourth Weekend; $7.3 million)
6. Secretariat (Third Weekend; $6.9 million)
7. Life as We Know It (Third Weekend; $6.1 million)
8. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of GaHoole (Fifth Weekend; $3.1 million)
9. The Town (Sixth Weekend; $2.7 million)
10. Easy A (Sixth Weekend; $1.7 million)

"Paranormal Activity 2" Sets New Record

I was definitely surprised by exactly how many people were at the midnight showing of Paranormal Activity 2 I attended yesterday. It turns out, I wasn't the only one. People turned out in droves to see the horror film of the year at the opportune time. One of the things that made the first film affective for some people was the feeling of unease when going to sleep afterwords. I just didn't feel that, and I didn't feel any fear going to sleep after this film. Still, it makes sense that people would head to that specific opening, and it ended up breaking the record for R-Rated midnight releases, banking a good $6.3 million. The film should do well throughout the rest of the weekend, but I think this is the one time in which people would rather not pay matinee price for a film.

Film Review: Paranormal Activity 2

In all honesty, I really didn't like the original Paranormal Activity. I suppose that may be because in the three years since its original unveiling, people had talked about how it was one of the best modern horror films. I didn't feel it to be much of a slow burn, as I almost fell asleep during it. Suffice it to say, I was not feverishly anticipating the sequel. Fortunately, I found the sequel to be what the first one just wasn't. Paranormal Activity 2 may seem like a sequel at first glance, but it's actually a prequel, and a successful one at that. Most prequels don't make you fear for the characters lives like this one does.

It follows married couple Kristi and Dan, their newborn son Hunter, and Dan's daughter Ali, as they suddenly begin to experience, you guessed it, paranormal activity. I was really expecting this film to be just a random family that has nothing to do with the first film, but believe it or not, the film have a legitimate mythology. It's not the kind that you get sick of because you can't put it together so easily, such as the Saw franchise. Both films are able to exist peacefully on their own, but they are more beneficial paired together. Although if you had to choose, go with the sequel.

I do have more than a few quarrels with this movie that keep it from being great, and level it at being simply good. For one thing, it takes forever for the film to find proper footing. For the first 50 minutes, things are rather ordinary. A threat is building, but it's building silently in the evil closet of mysteries. So yes, there is an evil closet of mysteries, and inside it is inscribed the single word(?) "melk". I'm not going to lie though; we get some nice character work in that first section, and this film made me care about the characters in a way that I just didn't in the original. They just felt like an actual family, and I was actually worrying about which of them, if any, was going to make it to the end.

Still, 40 minutes in, I really felt like this film was going to be a disappointing horror film. However, like in the last film, things get real when they break out the Ouija board. The final 40 minutes of this film is a non-stop thrill ride that the first film lacked. I was actually freaked out by some of the events that happened in the climax, as was the audience. The actual ending sequence does feel too abrupt, and doesn't work as well as anything else we'd seen before. The P.A. crew still needs to work on their endings, but it was still a necessary one. Ultimately, I found this film to be a satisfying horror film, even if it takes a while to get there.

B

For Your Anticipation: Bad Spirits in Da House

There aren't an awful lot of wide releases this weekend, but the one that is coming out has a lot of people waiting in anticipation. I'm going to be honest, while I squirmed a bit in my seat while watching Paranormal Activity, it just wasn't as scary as everyone was hyping it up to be. I actually felt it took a lot of the steam out of Drag Me To Hell, the real horror classic of last year. I'm not quite sure if Paranormal Activity 2 will be any different from the original, but I wouldn't count on it. Take a look at this new clip, and let me know what you think.