Para-Viral Activity

Paranormal Activity is the next installment in what’s been referred to as a “found footage” genre made famous by The Blair Witch Project.  In the first leg of its wide domestic release this past weekend – technically its 4^th week in theaters – Box Office Mojo reported that the film took in nearly $20 million in gross receipts, coming in third behind Where the Wild Things Are and Law Abiding Citizen, both in their opening weekend.

To date, Paranormal’s grossed just over $33.1 million…not bad for a movie that reportedly cost only $15,000 to make.

Proportionally the most profitable movie in history, grossing over 2,000 times it’s initial investment, Paranormal is proof that viral campaigns can prove incredibly effective when done right.

Rumors that Steven Spielberg personally screened the film and had to have a locksmith break him out of the room in which he viewed it has had horror fans coming out in droves to experience the terror first-hand – and horror-phobes, like myself, vowing to rent it on DVD when it can be watched…with the lights on…at home.

From there, director Oren Peli reached out to his fans to “demand” for increasingly wider releases vie Eventful.com – the self-described “leading events website which enables its community of users to discover, promote, share and create events.”

After “demands” reached 1 million, distributor Paramount announced the wide-release for October 16^th.

Whether Paranormal Activity’s viral marketing campaign was truly viral or so brilliantly marketed as to appear viral is a mystery likely never to be known – but either way, few would argue that whatever it was…it worked.