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Brett Beach: I think it stands as an upset in at least one regard. It may be the first #1 in modern memory where you could survey 100 people who have seen it and at least 95 could not tell you who directed, wrote or stars in it (although based on the lack of credits - a great idea by the way - maybe some are still under the impression it isn't really a fiction film?). Not sure where to rank it among "OMG, I can't believe film x beat out film y to be #1, but in terms of surprise, it takes me back to 1994 when some film called Ace Ventura: Pet Detective opened at #1 and I knew without a doubt that, at age 18, I no longer had a clue as to what was commercial gold and what wasn't.

Jim Van Nest: How big of an upset this is depends on how far you go back. If you go back one week, I don't think it's an upset at all. After last week's showing the writing was on the wall...all Paranormal Activity needed was some more screens. Go back three weeks ago and this is a huge upset that no one would have seen coming. Go back six months and this could be one of the larger box office upsets of all time. Blair Witch caught lightning in a bottle. That's supposed to be a once in a lifetime deal. Turns out, PA may out-Blair Witch the Blair Witch.

Reagen Sulewski: It's interesting to look back at what exactly Blair Witch was going up against in the weeks it went wide: The first big roll out had it up against Runaway Bride - which is almost beat, and the next week had it against The Sixth Sense, which was on the verge of becoming its own phenomena but didn't look so at the time (and think about how weird that is - to have two "once a decade" horror film performances come out within the span of two weeks). I'd say that compares rather favorably to the films that Paranormal's gone up against, and considering that it actually effectively took down a horror champ says something very strong in its favor.

Max Braden: You can also go way back to 1978 for Halloween, which was made on the cheap but earned $47 million on far fewer screens. I keep making "one the other hand" comparisons with Blair Witch. Blair Witch's internet marketing phenomenon benefited from that kind of marketing still in its youth, but the Internet hadn't spread as much as it has for Paranormal, which has Twitter to work with but could have been met with a seen-it-before response. I want to say I don't know anyone in person who's seen Paranormal, and I've seen a lot of disappointing reviews of it (meaning the press about the movie is more about its box office than the movie itself), but on the other hand Blair Witch faced a lot of criticism from audiences at the time as well.

Pete Kilmer: Just goes to show that there will still be some surprises at the box office. And just think, they almost made a big budget remake of this with name actors. Paramount played the marketing on this movie just right and someone over there deserves a huge bonus.

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