Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

October 17, 2012

I wish I had used the restroom first.

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Kim Hollis: Summit's horror flick Sinister debuted with $18 million this weekend. What do you think about this result?

Edwin Davies: It reaffirms that horror is one of the most dependable genres when it comes to return on investment. Make 'em cheap (Sinister was apparently made for $7 million), cut together a scary trailer and you'll probably get your money back. This one also benefited from being the first horror film to hit theaters since The House at the End of the Street opened a month ago, and from getting out ahead of Paranormal Activity 4 next Friday. As such, we can probably expect it to get slaughtered next week, but everything is gravy for Summit from here on out.

Felix Quinonez: This is a clear win and like it was already mentioned it reaffirms the dependability of the genre, especially at this time of year. Legs are almost completely out of the question but when you make back your production on the first day, it's probably not a major concern.

Bruce Hall: I think it's interesting that Sinister finished as the number one movie on Friday, only to end up in third place Sunday night. I think it's more interesting that it took in six times its production budget in that time, despite such lukewarm word-of-mouth. This is a classic smash and grab, just like you want out of a low budget horror flick - especially with Paranormal Activity 4 opening next week. Home video will be gravy. Everyone involved with Sinister should sleep quite soundly tonight.




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Jason Barney: As far as the executives are concerned, this is an enormous win. I have seen two different estimates on the budget numbers for this one, but even if we assume the money put into the project was on the high end, around $7 million, Summit made their money back by the end of the second day. It is a horror film and will be in and out of theaters fairly quickly, but you can't argue with success and with what makes money. I haven't seen a horror film in the theaters in years. As long as the high school and college crowd continue to embrace these Halloween movies, studios will pump them out. Even if the drop is near 60% next week, films that make five or six times their production budgets are what executives drool over.

Max Braden: That seems good, but it seems like it could have done better. I saw some advertising for it but not a lot. And I've started getting confused about which one is Insidious and which one is Intruders, when's Sinister actually in theaters, and with The Possession already out and Paranormal Activity 4 still to come, there's a glut of horror-thriller movies out this season. People may be waiting to just put all their chips on the franchise name they know instead of these one-offs.

Kim Hollis: I think Summit should be very pleased with their result, particularly because they're already making money with the film. Sinister was marketed well, with a very creepy trailer that built a lot of suspense. Also, it is generally positively reviewed, so it had that going for it early on.


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