Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Investing Simplified
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
Nicholas Wapshott
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Reihan Salam
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Hurricane Sandy Coverage
Hurricane Sandy lashes East Coast
NEW YORK - Hurricane Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, battered the densely populated East Coast on Monday, shutting down transportation, forcing evacuations in flood-prone areas and interrupting the presidential election campaign. Full Article
Live coverage of Hurricane Sandy
Interactive: Tracking Sandy
How to protect your insurance claims
Video: Time lapse animation of Hurricane Sandy
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Hurricane Sandy lashes U.S. East Coast
|
4:51pm EDT
Iran has pictures of restricted Israeli areas: Iran MP
8:02am EDT
Analysis: U.S. presidential race is all about Ohio - or is it?
1:21am EDT
Evacuations, shutdowns on East Coast before storm
|
28 Oct 2012
Massive Hurricane Sandy takes aim at East Coast
|
27 Oct 2012
Discussed
540
White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails
158
After final debate, Obama says election comes down to trust
131
Trump to give $5 million to charity if Obama releases records
Sponsored Links
Ghosts scare off gore for Halloween movies
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
"Argo" rises above "Cloud Atlas" as Sandy spooks
Sun, Oct 28 2012
Top 10 spookiest destinations for Halloween
Fri, Oct 26 2012
Venice winner "Pieta" director a soft-spoken "monster"
Tue, Oct 23 2012
James Bond blends old and new charms as 007 turns 50
Tue, Oct 23 2012
'Paranormal Activity 4' haunts top of movie charts
Sun, Oct 21 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Chakravyuh: Cliched and clunky
Yash Chopra, so much more than romance
Related Topics
Entertainment »
Fashion »
Film »
By Piya Sinha-Roy
LOS ANGELES |
Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:22pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After almost a decade in which torture films dominated the box office, horror movies are returning to ghostly thrills with a new slew of low-budget productions making big money for studios.
The success of 2009's "Paranormal Activity" - which was made for $15,000 and grossed more than $107 million at U.S. box offices - has fueled a thirst in audiences and movie studios for things that go bump in the night.
Halloween audiences previously gripped by the gory "Saw" franchise about a sadistic serial killer are flocking this season to see supernatural horrors, with "Sinister" and "Paranormal Activity 4" providing otherworldly scares for the spooky festivities.
The supernatural trend, with very little blood, started this year with "The Woman in Black" and "The Apparition", and will spill into 2013 with upcoming horror films including "Mama", "Evil Dead", "Carrie", and ghostly spoof "Scary Movie 5", which will parody "Paranormal Activity".
"It's a return to a more classic style of suspense," Henry Joost, who co-directed the third and fourth "Paranormal Activity" films with Ariel Schulman, told Reuters.
"When you've just been obliterated with gore, having it slammed in your face for a decade, you respond by seeking the opposite."
"Sinister", currently playing in U.S. movie theaters for Halloween-loving audiences, features an author (Ethan Hawke) who discovers home videos of mysterious murders and soon finds himself pursued by an otherworldly presence.
Director Scott Derrickson said audiences were drawn to bloodless supernatural horrors as a means to escape from news about wars and violent killings.
"There's something about the real-world pain and violence that has enveloped the American reality, that makes films like ("Saw") not necessarily the catharsis that people are looking for," Derrickson told Reuters in an interview.
INEXPENSIVE GHOSTS REAP BOX-OFFICE BENEFITS
"Saw", made for $1.2 million, grossed more than $55 million at the U.S. box office in 2004 and spawned a franchise, leading a slew of films dubbed "torture porn" for the excessive use of gratuitous violence.
The trend produced the "Hostel" trilogy, 2006's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" and 2008's "The Strangers".
But while the "Saw" franchise initially brought in big money for movie studios - the second and third films each grossed more than $80 million at the domestic box office - the profits slowed by 2009, when the franchise's seventh and final film "Saw 3D: The Final Chapter" was made for $20 million and grossed only $45 million.
"The torture porn stuff really played itself out, 'Saw' and 'Hostel', they were just too much. People want to be engaged with the story and not just grossed beyond imagination," Bradley Jacobs, film editor at Us Weekly, told Reuters.
In comparison, the "Paranormal Activity" franchise, which relies on suspense and strange phenomena, has revamped the genre with a more cost-effective model since most of the scares are off-screen and on deliberately grainy footage, minimizing the need for costly special effects and action shots.
The second "Paranormal" film was shot for an estimated $3 million and made $84 million, while the third film, made for $5 million, has grossed more than $104 million in North America.
"The profitability of making a film for less than $5 million and hedging the bet of the financiers and the studios with a possible giant upside becomes extremely attractive," Derrickson said.
"Sinister", made for $3 million, has grossed $39 million after three weeks in U.S. theaters. "Paranormal Activity 4", which cost $5 million, has made more than $42 million since it opened on October 19.
"Audiences realized that the feeling of suspense and the anticipation of horror is actually more emotionally impacting than graphic horror itself in these low-budget movies," Derrickson said.
The "Paranormal Activity" franchise was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, while Lions Gate Entertainment's Summit studio distributed "Sinister" as well as the "Saw" and "Hostel" films.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Dale Hudson)
Entertainment
Fashion
Film
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.