“Paranormal Activity” Passes $100 Million

Hit $15,000 thriller “Paranormal Activity” has crossed the $100 million mark at the U.S. domestic box office to become the top grossing R-Rated thriller of the past decade.

The film began its theatrical life with midnight-only screenings in twelve college towns across the U.S. and quickly developed into a national wide hit after more than a million online requests. Paramount expanded the film nationally a month ago and has been playing to packed theaters ever since.

The success is especially strong considering the film’s marketing has been very minimal and relying mostly on word of mouth.

Add to that a DVD-quality pirate copy of an earlier cut of the film has been available online for the past few weeks and has had only a negligible and quite possibly positive impact on the film’s word of mouth and box-office revenues.