Chapter 74: A Missed Opportunity of One Hundred Million

[Chapter 74: A Missed Opportunity of One Hundred Million]

On the fourth day of the release of Paranormal Activity, the weekend box office results rolled in. The film raked in a total of $1,596,000 across 14 screens, averaging an impressive $38,000 per theater. Over the weekend, that average jumped to an astounding $56,000, with attendance rates exceeding 92%, leading to nearly full houses at every showing.

Due to the film's skyrocketing popularity, many viewers wanted to see it but found that their local theaters weren't screening it. Numerous fans flooded the cinemas, urging them to expand the showings of Paranormal Activity.

AMC Theatres, noticing the excellent box office numbers during the initial screenings, approached Link with the suggestion to end the limited preview and start a wider release of Paranormal Activity in more theaters. Under the coordination of Guess Pictures and AMC Theatres, the film expanded from 14 to 437 screens nationwide starting Monday. It opened in major cities across America.

The buzz around the film drew even more audiences into theaters to catch Paranormal Activity. The movie itself was a hit, offering a gripping storyline that left viewers recommending it to friends and family. Even before its wide release, Paranormal Activity was already showing signs of becoming a major success in the American film market.

Given this momentum, cinema chains like Regal, Carmike, and others proactively reached out to Guess Pictures to offer more screens and increased screening times for the film. With their collaborative efforts, starting the following Monday, Paranormal Activity would play at 1,873 screens across North America. The scale of its release was on par with other commercial hits that had premiered around the same time.

...

In its second week, Parasnormal Activity grossed $13,180,000 in 437 AMC theaters, soaring from 13th place on the box office chart straight to 3rd. The box office champion was the action thriller Patriot Games, which had debuted that Friday, starring Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, and Anne Archer. Produced by Paramount Pictures, it had a production budget of $45 million and earned $18,510,000 from 2,365 screens in its opening three days.

In second place was the drama A Few Good Men, which had opened earlier in the summer. Jointly produced by Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment, it featured stars like Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, and Kiefer Sutherland, with a budget of $20 million. In its first three weeks, it had grossed $63,120,000, and that week alone it pulled in another $16,180,000 from 2,201 theaters, showing significant box office potential. It was considered one of the top ten films of the year and among the highest-grossing summer releases.

In third was Paranormal Activity, produced by Guess Pictures, with no big-name stars and a modest budget of $20,000. The film's impressive earnings of $13,180,000 for the week brought its total after ten days to $14,770,000.

Fourth place went to the sixth-week blockbuster Batman Returns, which earned $8,120,000 that week, totaling $147 million since its release. Fifth was the similarly timed release of Hero, which starred Oscar-winning Dustin Hoffman, Best Supporting Actress Gina Davis, and Andy Garcia, who had recently been nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Despite the star-studded cast, the film's box office performance was lackluster, taking in only $5,210,000 from 1,826 theaters that week -- less than a third of Paranormal Activity's earnings.

In that week's box office report, other popular films like Unforgiven, Death Becomes Her, and Single White Female trailed behind Paranormal Activity. The public reaction was swift when the report was released in major publications like Total Film and The Hollywood Reporter. The reason was clear: the numbers for Paranormal Activity were astonishing.

With a production cost of just $20,000 and now showing in 437 theaters, a weekly gross exceeding $10 million was truly remarkable, reaching a staggering $13,180,000. The film had overshadowed commercial hits like Batman Returns, Unforgiven, and Death Becomes Her.

...

"Thirteen million?! Paranormal Activity made $13 million this week? How is that even possible? The film only had a $20,000 budget and was playing in a little over 400 screens -- how could it earn so much?"

Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein was stunned as he read the numbers in the newspaper. His cheeks quivered with disbelief.

It was shocking! It was unbelievable! Regret washed over him -- thoughts of a hundred million lost swirled in his mind.

"How could the box office be so high? Damn it! I should have been more assertive at the screening. I should have given Link more incentives. If we had acquired distribution rights for this movie, we would've seen a share of those box office returns."

Bob Weinstein, looking at the impressive numbers, couldn't help but envy. With a production cost of only $20,000 and earnings of $14,770,000 after just ten days, the return on investment was over 700 times. What would the numbers look like in a month?

Considering the current trajectory, Paranormal Activity was likely to surpass the box office results of Buried, breaking records for return on investment. This film was an outright goldmine. Not having been involved was a significant loss for them.

"How did it come to this?" Harvey muttered, his voice trembling. "After watching Paranormal Activity, I could see it had real potential, and I would've wanted to buy it for distribution. But Link's proposed revenue split was too outrageous, and I figured he wouldn't have another smash hit after his last one. So, I let it go."

But who could have guessed Link's first film would be a hit, and his second would also strike gold, perhaps even more so? It was almost unbelievable -- nobody had accomplished that before.

Bob exhaled, acknowledging that such a feat had indeed never been seen before. Many directors made impressive debuts, but their second or third films often didn't hold up, resulting in a drastic decline in quality -- some would rise to fame while others would fade into obscurity in Hollywood.

To have a new director's first two films both be massive hits was nearly unheard of. Yet Link had done it, achieving what seemed impossible.

"This time, I underestimated Link. He deserves a more sincere approach from us," Harvey realized, snapping back from his shock. He reached for the phone on his desk, intending to congratulate Link on his film's success.

After trying to call twice with no success, he finally got through to Link after a brief wait.

As he sighed, he recognized that with Paranormal Activity's skyrocketing success, Link's reputation in the industry was on the rise. Soon, collaboration with him could get harder to secure. If only he had known how strong Link was; he would have acted differently back at the Sundance Film Festival.

Regret flooded him again as he thought about how he had treated the budding filmmaker.

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.