Chapter 353: Chapter 353: Causing Global Panic

$45.56 million box office in the first three days!

It belongs to the horror film “Paranormal Activity 3,” which has a production budget of $5 million. Apart from the failed second installment, it has been a long six years since “Paranormal Activity 3.” The film, miraculously, Wang Yang returned to clean up the mess at Lionsgate’s earnest plea with “Paranormal Activity 3”! Faced with the reality of it powerfully seizing the weekend’s top spot, the entire world could only be in an uproar!

This is truly a horror performance that’s scarier than the film itself! Just when media and fans thought “Wang Yang’s comeback” would end up mediocre, fans from both sides locked in fierce argument thought the “Paranormal Activity vs. Sin City” battle had been decided, and Lionsgate believed Wang Yang was no longer Santa Claus, “Paranormal Activity 3” suddenly surged, sweeping $17.2 million at the box office on Saturday, and belatedly claimed the champion’s throne; yet the best was still to come, as on April 3, “Paranormal Activity 3” continued its ascent, taking $17.84 million.

Nothing could stop it! The figure of $45.56 million allowed it to easily hold on to the top spot for the opening weekend of April 1-3.

“Sin City” only made $7.092 million on its third day, ranking second with a weekend total of $29.12 million, losing by approximately $16.44 million in US Dollars! If there was a targeted attack, it was truly “blown to bits” on the box office charts, and after a brief moment of glory on the first day, it was powerless to retaliate in the end. The huge gap of $16.44 million left the media unable to utter even half a word of “regret”. Ranked third was “Hooray Beauty Salon” with only $10.08 million, the fourth place “Boys and Girls Black and White Match” with $9.81 million…

“I find it so hard to close my jaw, my chin has been injured!” This review of “Paranormal Activity 3” seems to be everyone’s response right now, this surely isn’t a belated April Fool’s joke? Many of Wang Yang’s detractors rubbed their eyes, how could this be possible! How could such a thing happen! Who has gone mad!

They couldn’t figure it out, in fact, even the numerous supporters of “Paranormal Activity” & Wang Yang couldn’t figure out how “Paranormal Activity 3” could explode with such incredible force! It broke the April new film opening weekend box office record in movie history! Previously, the record was held by the 2003 comedy “Anger Management” with $42.22 million, ultimately reaching $135 million in North America, $195 million worldwide; second was “The Scorpion King” from 2002 with $36.07 million, eventually reaching $91 million/$165 million box office; third was “The Matrix” from 1999 with $27.78 million, now surpassed by “Sin City.”

But “Paranormal Activity 3” soared up, straight up creating an astonishing new champion record. Many people don’t understand why, yet the market always has surprises and wonders, it always gives a chance to dark horses, it just happened,

“I’ve always said, Wang Yang couldn’t possibly lose, especially since ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is so outstanding!” Keith-C who always believed in a Wang Yang comeback was very happy, “Now you’ve witnessed the birth of another miracle,” Niklas-S, who was originally not very confident, also became full of confidence, “The artistry of ‘Sin City’ is indeed higher than that of ‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ but commercially, the gap between them is more than significant.” Luis-C told Donegal, “There’s one person who makes the audience willing to pay money to watch a movie, even if critics slam it to the ground, that person is Wang Yang!”…

It turned into a festival for Wang Yang fans, fans of “Sin City” and detractors of Wang were nearly speechless, Donegal said, “This just shows how deep Hollywood’s poison runs, a boring commercial film that extracts money from the audience is actually more popular than a grand movie, it’s truly pitiful for you all! I should have known that truth always belongs to the minority, and the same goes for real cinema.” Luis-C stared him down, “Not every night, not every two hours should we seek art, but I believe Wang Yang will tell you again with ‘Firefly’ what a movie that coexists with both commerce and art looks like.”…

“Horror King Wang Yang strikes! ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ sweeps the North American box office and sets a record.”

Media across North America and around the world have all reported the latest movie and entertainment developments, according to news from Sina.com, 25-year-old Chinese American director Wang Yang’s maiden screen production sequel “Paranormal Activity 3” has recently achieved astounding success, recreating the glory of the past.

“Without the mockumentary-style marketing, quite a few mainland viewers might be puzzled why a movie series like ‘Paranormal Activity,’ with such low levels of horror and high index of dull moments, could become so popular and successful,” an editor at Sina.com seemed to believe that ‘Paranormal Activity’ isn’t very terrifying. He wrote, “Typically, the main audience for horror films is young males, but ‘Paranormal Activity’ seems to attract more female viewers. The audience statistics from the opening weekend of ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ showed that women accounted for 54%, suggesting that this kind of ‘mild fright’ horror film must be targeting them.”

Charming magician Wang Yang? Regardless of gender, many North American viewers didn’t consider it a ‘mild fright’; they were terrified. According to the ‘Toronto Star,’ a local 10-year-old boy felt unwell after watching the movie and had to be taken to the hospital for sedation. Parents should be alarmed. The newspaper reminded them that ‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ rated PG (Parental Guidance) in Canada, should actually be rated 14-A (Accompanied), and if their children wanted to watch this horror film, they should accompany them strictly.

As days passed, the first week of April, from the 1st to the 7th, came to a close. ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ effortlessly became the new champion of the North American weekly box office with $55.13 million, a surprising feat; ‘Sin City’ ended with $36.6 million, losing the only chance it had for a first-week victory.

As a new weekend arrived, ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ continued to rake in the North American box office, collecting surprise and praise while also making a fiery debut in cinemas across multiple countries overseas.

However, according to Italy’s ‘Today,’ there was trouble again! A 12-year-old girl in Naples “repeated history” when she became paralyzed and could not move during the middle of ‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ due to excessive fright. Fortunately, she was rushed to the hospital and was not in grave danger. However, she wasn’t the only ‘victim’ in Italy: since the release of ‘Paranormal Activity 3′ earlier in the week, the Italian government’s emergency response services had received dozens of distress calls.

They claimed that after watching the movie, its highly terrifying and thrilling plot and filming techniques left them petrified, causing panic that lasted for half an hour, or making them jump out of their chairs on the spot, nearly breaking down. Their complaints were that such a scary movie had no age restrictions for viewership, highlighting the rigidness and backwardness of the country’s film rating system. The case of the girl from Naples silently condemned this fact.

On the 11th, Agence France-Presse quoted an emergency service worker, highlighting that this situation was particularly prominent in the southern city of Naples, where several cases of panic symptoms lasting over half an hour were reported on the 9th. It was this worker who said, “The case of a 12-year-old girl was the most serious; she was in a state of paralysis when she arrived at the hospital.” The Italian Parents’ Association also advised that the government should consider the practices of America, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Germany, and restrict teenagers under 18 from watching this horror movie in cinemas.

According to the ‘The Daily Telegraph’ in the United Kingdom, before the release of ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ in Italy, its terrifying scenes were carefully edited into a TV trailer and played on Italian television networks for weeks, scaring thousands of children.

This caught the high attention of the Italian Minister of Defense, Antonio Martino, who said to the media on the 9th, “This is a terrible thing, the film is too scary, and the television networks really should improve. My 7-year-old daughter told me ‘Daddy, I don’t dare to watch, I’m scared.'” Italian parliament member Alessandra Mussolini also stated that the movie contained “highly stressful content” and could cause “panic and even psychological issues” in adolescents.

An Italian consumer advocacy group issued a statement, expressing the hope to protect the underage audience of this film through legal means. But after the movie’s release, still a massive number of Italian teenagers followed suit, flocking to cinemas to watch it, leading to the event where the Naples girl was frightened into paralysis.

Although countries like the United Kingdom and Netherlands had restrictions on the viewing age for ‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ preventing so many young children from being scared, similar cases of teenage panic occurred, with numerous reports of people claiming “I couldn’t sleep well for days after seeing the movie” online, drawing the attention of many organizations and groups, similar to the level of social negative impact caused by ‘Paranormal Activity’ in 1998.

Several European countries yet to release the film are indicating that their film rating agencies might consider a special classification for ‘Paranormal Activity 3.’ Despite lacking restricted content such as violence, pornography, or profanity, its excessively thrilling nature suggests it isn’t suitable for teenagers, particularly children.

“Many adolescents are experiencing a movie shot in this style for the first time on the big screen in a cinema,” according to the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.’ Film critic Rudi Soehnsl said that for those who hadn’t seen ‘Paranormal Activity’ at the time, even if they later caught up on the first movie through DVD or video tapes, ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ would still be even more terrifying; not to mention first-time viewers of the series.

As home video equipment became more widespread and internet selfie videos grew popular, the public grew more accustomed and empathetic to the atmosphere that “Paranormal Activity” created. The stronger the sense of immersion, the greater the scare. Soehnsl said, “For those teenagers, this kind of thrill is very fresh and alternative. It’s not something that other horror films in the past could offer. Some horror movie fans who are used to horror movies can’t even handle it, it truly is no ordinary horror film.”

However, whether it’s in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy or Canada, nobody thinks they can “persuade” teens not to watch “Paranormal Activity 3.” The more you tell this age group not to watch it, the more they want to; not to mention the astonishing box office performance in North America. Why not look at who is its biggest draw?

“I’m not surprised at all, this is just classic Wang Yang.” Countless Wang Yang fans were very calm about this, they had come over being scared, and they all believed, “Compared to back in 1998, ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is nothing! Kids these days really can’t take a scare!”

Horror fan Susanna said, “If you know about Magical Yang through ‘High School Musical’, ‘Juno’, the Oscar stage, blogs, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, or whatever, you think that’s all there is to him? A sunny and humorous big brother? LOL! Then you really should go to YOUTUBE to see how he scared Jessica, along with the first two ‘Paranormal Activity’ movies.” Horror movie fan Magnus said, “James Wan once said, ‘He can come up with five ghost stories in five minutes, each more horrifying than the last, and you can never keep up with his pace.’

Now, having scored a big victory, Luis-C also began to mock himself, “I’m just worried that a lot of kids will be terrified, and Magical Yang will end up making a high school romance film to compensate?”

“Paranormal Activity” initially terrified a 14-year-old girl in San Francisco, sparking the subsequent horror frenzy. After everything became clear, there were rumors that the girl had scared Wang Yang so much that it affected him to the point of leaving the horror genre altogether, and he went on to make three “sunshine films” with different genres, like the sunshine of summer, autumn, and winter. This time “Paranormal Activity 3” has certainly caused global panic. Although he did not direct it, many people, like Luis-C, wonder if Wang Yang is going to make another heartwarming film?

Making horror films is no joke for Magical Yang, and as discussions about the rating of “Paranormal Activity 3” were rife in various countries, time quickly moved on to the new weekend of the 15th, with the second week of April, from the 8th to 14th, drawing to a close.

Yet another so-called blockbuster lost its shirt, with Paramount Pictures’ investment of 130 million in production costs for “Sahara Cavalry” only bringing in a box office of 23.34 million in its first week. The action-adventure film, starring Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey, ranked second for the week; “Sin City” brought in another 18 million at the box office for third place. Although it was well-received, it could not compete with the massive societal impact of “Paranormal Activity 3”; Drew Barrymore faced another setback after “Lucky Card Player,” as her romantic comedy “Extreme Enthusiasm,” with a budget of 30 million, only made 15.14 million in its first week, ranking fourth and causing Fox a major headache.

It’s worth mentioning that Stephen Chow’s “Kung Fu Hustle,” which he directed and starred in, opened this week in just 7 theaters but brought in a surprisingly pleasing figure for Sony/Columbia, with an average of 53,577 US dollars per theater and a total box office of 375,000 for the week. It seems that this kung fu comedy, which enjoyed great box office success in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan, can expect a large-scale North American release in over 2,000 theaters.

This week’s champion was “Paranormal Activity 3,” which added another 24.5 million to its box office, bringing its North American total to 79.63 million. In addition, its international gross exceeded 36.41 million, bringing the total box office over 100 million. With a production budget of 5 million and a 14-day earning of 116 million, it has become another commercial miracle in film history.

“Hahaha!” Over the past two weeks, the Liongate headquarters in Santa Monica was filled with laughter. Jon Feltheimer, Michael Paseornek, and others were too happy, especially after detailed analysis and predictions that the global box office for “Paranormal Activity 3” was expected to break through 200 million US dollars! What a concept! And then there’s DVD sales and other post-release revenues… With just “Paranormal Activity” series doing well each year, Liongate was winning big time, the gold mine within a gold mine!

They didn’t expect Wang Yang to continue participating in the production of “Paranormal Activity 4,” but now he had revived this gold mine and successfully cultivated a huge fan base for the series. That was enough. If they were to ruin this legacy, they couldn’t forgive themselves.

The success of “Paranormal Activity 3” has recently turned Chloe Moretz into a hot pursuit for the media, launching yet another superstar and the first popular child star by the magical Wang Yang! With her performance in “Firefly”, her cute and pretty appearance, and exceptional acting talent, plus Wang Yang’s generous praise that “this little girl is destined to become a big star,” she is hailed by many media magazines as one of Hollywood’s most promising child stars for the next decade.

However, her brother Tye Moritz recently revealed on his personal blog that after Chloe attended the premiere of “Paranormal Activity 3,” she became so frightened of angering evil spirits from filming the movie that she suffered from several days of insomnia and had to temporarily sleep in her parents’ room.

Jessica did not attend the premiere that day; Wang Yang’s date was the cameo star Chloe Moretz. His response to the media’s explanation was laughingly, “After last Halloween, she doesn’t like horror movies anymore,” and he didn’t engage in any discussion about the pregnancy topic. This unusual situation seemed to tacitly confirm the rumors that she was pregnant.

“Buying some eggplants to stir-fry seems not bad either…” In the brightly lit supermarket, rows of shelves were filled with various goods, Wang Yang pushed a cart full of food and wandered around the vegetable area. Taking advantage of the weekend, he intended to cook a delicious dinner himself, striving to let the woman who was struggling to feed herself for the sake of the baby relish the meal! He picked up a few eggplants, took a look, and then placed them in the cart, thinking that eating eggplants seemed to be quite beneficial for pregnant women?

Now one month into her pregnancy, Jessica had started to experience real pregnancy reactions over these few days. Despite the advice of a professional nutrition care team, she inevitably became a pregnant woman with a poor appetite and changing taste, which included an increasing fascination with sweets, to the point of constantly squirting whipped cream into her mouth all day long. He had watched enough to feel uncomfortable about it; of all the delicious food, only whipped cream? He fondly remembered the bygone days when she used to eat meat heartily and drink booze liberally.

“Wow! The amazing Wang Yang!” The supermarket had many customers, each stocking up on a new week’s supplies for their fridges, with their attention generally focused on the shelves; however, the un-disguised and amazing Wang Yang coming face-to-face with them was not something strange for the fans who were just scared by “Paranormal Activity 3.” The couple, who were young Caucasians, instead of pulling out their phones to capture Wang Yang’s family chef look, pushed their cart forward to ask for an autograph and chat.

“‘Paranormal Activity 3’ was really great, we jumped out of our seats that day!” The young couple conveyed their fan-like admiration and asked him if he would make “Paranormal Activity 4.” While signing the requested milk bottle, Wang Yang shrugged with a smile, “Probably not. This time I scared a lot of kids again, and I would rather offend evil spirits than all the parents in the world, who are the scariest things.” They chuckled at his words, and the young woman curiously asked, “So after ‘Firefly,’ will your next film be of a sunnier disposition?”

Wang Yang glanced at her and nodded, “Maybe it will be.”

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PS: Thank you to the flavor of milkshake for advancing to a grandmaster, and thanks for the support! Wow, I also thank everyone for the support! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)