Few Hollywood movies can claim to have actually changed the film landscape forever, but one horror hit managed just that. In an era where the movie industry feels like it’s populated with an endless array of sequels, franchises, and copycat releases, it’s rare for an original idea to break through and show the studio executives that sometimes taking a chance on smaller releases can actually pay off. However, occasionally, low-budget indie movies hit big at the box office and achieve unprecedented success, which leads to a change in thinking among those cashing the checks in the film industry.
A sleeper hit is a movie that nobody expected to do as well as it eventually does, as word-of-mouth hype is strong enough to spread the word without a huge marketing budget behind the film. The horror genre is particularly susceptible to sleeper hits, as it’s hard to predict which low-budget scary movie will strike a chord with the public and become a global phenomenon. This was certainly the case in 2007, when a surprise found-footage release became the often-cited most profitable movie of all time.
Paranormal Activity Was A Sleeper Hit At The Box Office
This Franchise Started As A $15,000 Independent Film
Paranormal Activity started life as a low-budget horror from writer and director Oren Peli. As the story of a young couple haunted by a supernatural presence in their home, Katie and Micah set up a hidden camera to try to uncover the truth of these supernatural happenings. With this simple premise, Paranormal Activity utilized a found-footage style, which meant that the low-budget nature of the movie worked in its favor because it made the horror of the situation feel all the more real.
While it was clear that Peli was onto something special with Paranormal Activity after it was first screened at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in 2007, Paramount still could never have predicted the success the film would find after they acquired it and the movie was released worldwide. What started with early word-of-mouth hype among college towns during its limited run soon grew into a global box office gross of over $194 million (via The Numbers.)
Paranormal Activity was initially produced on a budget of $15,000 (via Hollywood Reporter) before Paramount spent an extra $200,000 in post-production.
Some clever marketing tactics contributed to Paranormal Activity’s surprise success, as the website Eventful (via NY Times) was used to allow viewers to request the movie be screened in their town. Within just a few short days, the website had over one million requests, and Paramount realized that the hype for Paranormal Activity was only growing. The success of Paranormal Activity not only meant that those involved earned a mᴀssive payday, but the impressive nature of the movie’s profit margins left an impression on Hollywood and the film industry that continues to be felt to this day.
Paranormal Activity’s Success Left An Impressive Hollywood Legacy
The Found-Footage Genre Saw A Major Renewal
The success of Paranormal Activity was so great that it transformed a once tiny horror movie into one of the biggest horror franchises the world has ever seen. Not only did Paranormal Activity lead to six subsequent films in the series, but countless other found-footage and possession-centric releases followed in its wake. As a film that proved it was possible to make hundreds of millions of dollars on an initial budget of just $15,000, other filmmakers were eager to repeat the success of Paranormal Activity with their own low-budget found-footage possession story.
Although the downside of a success of this magnitude means that there will inevitably be people who simply try to copy and repeat the same format, Paranormal Activity also paved the way for a rise in bold, original horror movies succeeding at the box office. Peli’s success as a writer and director encouraged other filmmakers to pursue original formats and make horror movies outside of the pre-established studio system. With this success comes a wave of interesting horrors, including Insidious, The Babadook, It Follows, Get Out, and Hereditary.
While Paranormal Activity certainly helped plenty of highly creative and original movies secure funding, it was also the inspiration for plenty of shameless rip-off movies like Paranormal Enтιтy, Home Movie, and unofficial foreign sequels such as Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night.
Paranormal Activity was an example filmmakers seeking funding could point to, and it gave studios a reason to back upcoming directors and fund low-risk, low-budget horror movies. It’s out of this mentality that studios like A24 and Blumhouse Productions have been linked to some of the most original and engaging horror movies of recent years. Paranormal Activity proved it’s possible to support original ideas while still managing to achieve mainstream commercial success.
How The Original Paranormal Activity Holds Up In 2025
Looking Back, It’s Easy To See What Viewers Connected With
Reflecting on Paranormal Activity in 2025, it’s hard to critique the film outside of its status as a major horror franchise and a juggernaut box office hit. However, it’s clear that it remains a landmark horror release whose DIY minimalism still feels raw and powerful. Paranormal Activity had a stripped-back quality that made it believable as genuine home movie-style footage. There was a lo-fi authenticity to Paranormal Activity that allowed viewers to genuinely feel like it was real.
Another, often underappreciated, aspect of Paranormal Activity was that it took its time and was willing to test the audience’s patience. Rather than contain one jump scare after another, Paranormal Activity knew the value of quiet moments in a horror film and allowed the time in between hauntings to be filled with suspense as viewers nervously prepared themselves for what was about to happen. All good horrors are well aware that the unknown is more frightening than anything that can be depicted on screen, and Paranormal Activity embraced atmospheric dread over cheap thrills.
The use of technology in Paranormal Activity was novel back in 2007, as the film pre-dated the ubiquitous presence of smartphones, and the way it used a simple camcorder to capture all the supernatural events felt ahead of its time. While so much about Paranormal Activity has been endlessly copied in the years since, it’s obvious that this was a found-footage film done well, and it remains effective even for viewers today. This was a film that changed Hollywood as we know it, and Paranormal Activity deserves credit for opening the doors for many more great independent horror movies.
Source: The Numbers, Hollywood Reporter, NY Times
