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Shalimar Sahota: This is an opening that's way bigger than I imagined. The advertising did not skimp on the scares, so I can only assume that American audiences have a thing for floaty objects and doors that bang shut. I'm kinda with David in that Paramount simply hasn't screwed with the formula. The found footage approach and using no name actors offers a heightened sense of realism that a big budget blockbuster would struggle to match. The positive reviews would indicate that it still works. That Paramount has stuck with this for its two prequels has clearly paid off.

Brett Beach: I will make up for the under-flabbergasting from my compatriots. I find this fairly astonishing. I have noted in the audience analysis that the percent of those over 25 increased with this one, and since they don't necessarily rush out on opening weekend, they could be at least partly responsible. The midnight showings were up slightly over PA2 but even with those thrown out, you have a jump from $34 million to 46 million from one year to the next. That's a 33% increase . . . for a film that was selling itself as another prequel.

Edwin Davies: I'll echo the statements of David and Joshua; Paranormal Activity 3 has done so well because Paramount has invested a lot of time and effort (though relatively little money) into maintaining the intergrity of the franchise and ensuring that the resulting films are actually pretty good. Admittedly it seems paradoxical to use words like "integrity" and "franchise" in the same sentence, but that is exactly the case here. Making each of the subsequent films into a prequel has enriched the back story of the series, rather than diminishing it or making it overly complicated, which seems to have hooked people into the world of these films in a way they might not have had they just followed a traditional horro sequel pattern of abandoning the original cast and characters but keeping the central concept. The strong reviews, which display a noticeable uptick from the second film, which was liked but not as much as the first, probably helped the film leap to the levels that it did since they may have compelled people who were on the fence or willing to wait to check it out this weekend. I'm not sure that it'll have legs - even the best reviewed horror films tend to drop off quickly - but even if it only manages a 2.0 multiplier it would still outgross the first Paranormal Activity domestically, which is a pretty stunning result.

Where is our Treehouse of Horror parody?

Kim Hollis: Do you think this is the high water mark for the Paranormal Activity franchise and that it's all downhill from here, or do you think they'll be able to continue to cultivate more success in the short term?

David Mumpower: The aspect of the Saw franchise's decline that was anticipated in advance here is that there has to be a hook that entices the viewer into seeing the next movie. Saw ran out of those, making each release that much more challenging to justify. By working backward from the original, Paranormal Activity has effectively created a form of cinematic foreplay as they build to the eventual payoff that will occur as the storyline (eventually) moves forward in time. Presumably, this occurs in the fourth movie, meaning that I believe that Paranormal Activity 4 should demonstrate similar opening weekend behavior to its immediate predecessor. The only reason why I'm not 100% certain is that I haven't seen the movie yet, so I'm not sure how satisfying it is. The fact that it's rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes combined with the generally positive user reviews there and at IMDb indicates to me that this is not a concern although Entertainment Weekly reports that the movie only has a C+ Cinemascore, which is a bit troubling. I'm inclined to believe that Paranormal Activity 3 proved to be enough of a Scary Thrills delivery system that its diehard fanbase returns at least one more time. The perception of that movie, the one that shows what happens after the events of the first three films, determines how much life is in Paranormal Activity post-2012.

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