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Did you hear a noise? Downstairs?

Kim Hollis: Paranormal Activity 2 became the second consecutive mega-opener as it earned $40.7 million. What do you take from this result?

Josh Spiegel: That Paramount Pictures knew exactly what they were doing with this movie. I made a comment on my Twitter feed last week that, with the exception of one ad, I'd seen absolutely no advertising for Paranormal Activity 2. Were it not for the film being a promoted trending topic on Twitter, I could have easily forgotten it existed, let alone that it would be released this past weekend. Obviously, mine was a very unique experience, as the film hit, and hit big. Really, there's only one question to ask: how many more hours will it take for Paramount to announce the third film in the franchise?

Shalimar Sahota: I would also agree with Josh that I've not actually seen a single TV ad for this here in the UK, and yet early estimates have it at opening with £6 million. After the first film people clearly wanted more, and were already aware of the release. Those in the know didn't need any advertising; they were already sold on the promise of more scares. Some have gone so far as to dissecting the trailers looking for clues about what's going on this time around.





$40 million+ I would not have expected and is an outstanding total. I think we're obviously seeing the Saw effect from five/six years ago. Cheap film, with no name stars comes out of nowhere, scores big, and the sequel manages the same. I'm sure it'll likely hold well over the Halloween weekend and against Saw 3D as well. Also, I thought the "Demand It" release strategy of the first film via its official site was an unusually great idea that also generated huge buzz. Although it was unlikely to happen with the sequel, I find it odd that no other independent film of a curious nature has decided to replicate it.

Reagen Sulewski: I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting really tired of stunt film releases. Of course, when you can make films like this for $1 million and have it earn that back by 4 p.m. on Friday, they're not going away anytime soon. I just fear what other cable reality show concept (taking off on the obvious inspiration of Ghost Hunters, etc. here) is going to be transformed into a movie now, and how many more are going to try to grab onto the whole social media campaign aspect of this. Fortunately, I think any film that's following in these footsteps is going to seem like a pale copy. It's not for nothing that nothing else was able to follow in the footsteps of the Blair Witch for a decade afterwards.

Bruce Hall: Reagen, that is exactly why there are too many cop shows on television. But it's a monkey see, monkey do world and this kind of result can't and won't be ignored by other studios. There will be imitators, and since we all know what they say about capturing lightning in a bottle, most of them will be spectacular failures. Although the initial success of Paranormal Activity 2 is good news for Paramount, recreating this kind of phenomenon isn't something we're likely to see again terribly soon. Artisan wasted no time jumping on a Blair Witch sequel and we know what happened with that. Even following your own success is not a guarantee, so I think that everyone involved with Paranormal Activity 2 deserves a lot of credit, regardless of whether or not the quality of the film lived up to people's expectations.

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