How to get horror fans to do your work for you.
"Paranormal Activity" -- the low-budget heir apparent to "The Blair Witch Project," allegedly terrifying audiences into fleeing midway in fear, as opposed to the usual disgust -- has won itself a nationwide release this weekend. Paramount's marketing campaign had fanboys clicking on a petition to "demand" the movie be shown in their city; when it hit a million people, the studio announced that, thanks to those fans, "Paranormal Activity" would go wide. The triumph of the little people! Except not really: as The Playlist reports, Paramount's been telling local theater managers that the film was headed their way long before the PR push of the petition reaching a million supporters. It should surprise no one that Paramount, after spending the summer putting out "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," wouldn't allow their release strategy to rest on the whims of an online petition. What is brilliant was the...
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