Could Paranormal Activity Beat Saw VI at the Box Office?
Posted 10.23.09 by Ryan
Saw VI, the latest installment of the annual October series, opens this weekend and, for once, it won't be the only horror movie to do so.
Typically, horror movies rarely open in October, giving the Saw movies a wide berth. Zombieland moved to October 9 from October 2 at the first chance it got, and both of Rob Zombie's Halloween installments opened in August, months away from any Saw competition.
Yet, Paramount has pitted Paranormal Activity's nationwide release against Saw VI, and perhaps wisely so. The LA Times predicts that Paranormal could very likely beat Saw VI in box-office receipts this weekend.
Saw VI producer Mark Burg admitted to ShoctkTillYouDrop that "[Paranormal]'s coming at us head-on." But that doesn't bother him.
It's great. It's good for everybody. Our trailer is on their movie,
so I want them to do a bunch of business. I think it's just good.
The past four Saw movies opened to at least $30 million, while Paranormal has already made $20 million playing on only 760 screens. Considering that Saw VII is already in pre-production, and Saw VIII is being planned, it seems there's more at at stake for Paranormal than Saw VI. However, by opening another horror movie the same weekend, Paramount has decided that October is no longer strictly Saw territory.