The horror/thriller Paranormal Activity was said to have had a budget of just over $15,000. As of the last look, the movie had grossed over $65 MILLION. If you are doing the math, that means this movie has made an astounding 434,000 percent return on investment.
Not since the $60,000 spent to produce The Blair Witch Project in 1999 has a film seen such a staggering return on initial investment. Blair With clocked in at a 414,000 percent ROI. Obviously that means the film grossed more overall, but Paranormal Activity is still living large in theaters.
Both films were in the horror genre, and Paranormal Activity took somewhat of the same approach as Blair Witch did. Not only were they both filmed in a way that made them appear to be home movies, they both used a guerilla marketing approach to stir interest. Blair Witch didn't have the internet progress PA has today, but they did well to promote it by word of mouth as a "found footage"/true story horror movie, just like PA did initially. The social networks out there definitely give PA the advantage online compared to what Blair Witch had back in 1999.
While I consider Blair Witch to be a much better movie overall, I wasn't unimpressed with Paranormal Activity either. I just didn't think it was that great. I found the boyfriend in PA even more annoying than the crying girl in Blair Witch, and that is saying something. Blair Witch just had a way better atmosphere to me. The isolation of being lost in the woods is much more fearful to me than a house. Not to mention that I have a bias against most "ghost" movies because I think they suck, and I don't believe in ghosts. They aren't real. Throw in the paranormal aspect on top and and it ranks a bit higher to me as it should for the general horror audience in my opinion. Both seem to have the audiences weezing and pulling out their new humidifier filters to allow them to sleep better.
