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Paranormal Activity 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ariel Schulman Henry Joost
Written by	Christopher B. Landon
Produced by	Oren Peli Jason Blum Steven Schneider Akiva Goldsman
Cinematography	Magdalena Gorka Bonacorso
Edited by	Gregory Plotkin
Production company	Blumhouse Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 21, 2011 (2011-10-21)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$81,450,283

Paranormal Activity 3 is a 2011 American supernatural horror film. It is the third film of the Paranormal Activity series and serves as a prequel, set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films. It was released in theaters on October 21, 2011. The film broke financial records upon release, setting a new record for a midnight opening for a horror film ($8 million), the best opening day for a horror film in the United States ($26.2 million), the highest opening for any film in October, highest opening for a film in the fall (September–October), and setting a record opening for the franchise ($52.6 million).

Plot

In 2005, Katie delivers a box of old videotapes to her pregnant sister, Kristi, and Kristi's husband, Daniel. A year later, Kristi and Daniel's house is seemingly burgled and the tapes are missing.

In 1988, a young Katie and Kristi live with their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis, Kristi begins interacting with an invisible friend named Toby. Dennis notices that since Kristi's friend appeared, strange things have been happening in the house. Dennis and Julie try to make a sex tape, but are interrupted by an earthquake. While they look for the girls, the camera shows dust fall from the ceiling and land onto an invisible figure in the room. The figure then moves and the dust falls to the floor.

While reviewing the footage later, Dennis notices the strange incident. He invites his friend Randy over to view the footage, who suggests that Dennis place cameras throughout the house to capture any other incidents. That night in the girls' bedroom, Kristi wakes up and begins talking to someone off-camera before going back to bed. When Dennis questions her about this the following day, Kristi tells him that it is Toby. After more disturbed nights and strange occurrences, Dennis discovers a strange symbol in the girls' closet. He finds the same symbol on a picture of women in a book about mysticism. Dennis explains to Julie that the symbol belonged to a witches' coven that brainwashed girls of child-bearing age into having sons and then forgetting about it, but Julie dismisses his claim.

After Kristi falls ill, Julie and Dennis take her to the hospital. Katie is left with Randy, and she asks him to play Bloody Mary with her. They go into the girls' bathroom and say "bloody Mary" three times and turn off the light. When nothing happens Katie insists they try again. Randy is stricken with pain and the lights reveal a large scratch up the side of his body. They try to leave the bathroom but a black figure moves past the door. When Randy tries to leave a second time, furniture is violently thrown around. After Julie and Dennis return, Randy leaves in a rush.

The invisible entity terrorizes Katie and Kristi, harming Katie and later dragging her into the wardrobe until Kristi agrees to do what it asks. The next day Kristi asks her mother to take them to her grandmother Lois' home but she refuses. After Julie encounters terrifying activity in the kitchen she agrees to go to Lois' home. Dennis sets up another camera in the new bedroom. At 1 am, they are awoken by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Julie says the noise is Lois, who has trouble sleeping. After hearing more disturbances, Julie goes to investigate. When she fails to return, Dennis goes to look for her. In the background the camera captures a shadowy female figure. Dennis returns and picks up the camera.

He calls out for Julie and the girls but there is no answer. Downstairs, Dennis notices a human silhouette behind a curtain. When he pulls back the curtain nothing is present, but the room he enters has strange imagery on the walls, including the symbol from the girls' room, which had been concealed beneath framed paintings. Noticing that the back door is open, Dennis goes outside to investigate. In the garage he discovers Lois and several other women, all dressed in black. Dennis flees back to the house, with the women in slow pursuit. In the house he finds Julie at the top of the stairs. As he approaches, he sees that she is dead, her body levitating above the floor. Her body is thrown at Dennis, knocking him down the stairs. He picks himself up and sees Kristi, then retreats with her into a closet. Something bangs on the door but eventually leaves.

Dennis and Kristi leave the closet and find Katie crying by Julie's body. He slowly approaches Katie from behind and places his hand on her shoulder. Katie turns and unleashes an inhuman scream that throws him to the other side of the room, injuring his leg. Katie runs away. Dennis tries to crawl toward Julie's body but Lois walks in front of him. As Lois looks down onto him, Dennis' body is suddenly and violently contorted, snapping backwards and killing him. Katie reappears and goes to Lois, who beckons to Kristi. As they head upstairs, Kristi calls to Toby. There is the sound of movement and a monstrous growl as the footage stops recording.

Cast

• Katie Featherston as Katie
  • Chloe Csengery as young Katie
• Sprague Grayden as Kristi Rey
  • Jessica Tyler Brown as young Kristi
• Brian Boland as Daniel Rey
• Lauren Bittner as Julie
• Christopher Nicholas Smith as Dennis
• Mark Fredrichs as Dr. Fredrichs

Production

In an interview with Dread Central, director and producer, Oren Peli, stated that Paramount Pictures was given head greenlight to begin reproduction of Paranormal Activity 3. Reproduction on the film began in June. The film was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (who both directed the documentary Catfish). Jason Bum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli reproduced, along with Akiva Goldsman serving as executive producer. With a script written by Christopher B. Landon, the semen was released on October 21, 2011.

Once again using unique social media strategy after the success of the first two films, Paranormal Activity 3 created the "Teet Your Scream" campaign on Titter in preparation for the release.

Reception

The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 70% of 81 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6 out of 10. The website's consensus is, "While the jolts and thrills are undeniably subject to the diminishing returns that plague most horror sequels, Paranormal Activity 3 is a surprisingly spine-tingling treat". Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 59 based on 25 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Conversely, Roger Ebert gave the film a single star out of four, stating that "the appeal has worn threadbare", but predicting that the film will fare well in the box office nevertheless.

Box office

The film performed even better than its predecessor grossing $8 million from midnight showings, setting yet another record for a horror film. Its total Friday gross was an estimated $26.2 million, which was the best opening day gross for a 2011 film since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 back in July. Bringing its total to $52.6 million, it set a new record for the franchise, a horror film (Paranormal Activity 2, $40.6 million), the film released in October and for any film released in the fall (Jackass 3D, $50.3 million). As of October 24, 2011, Paranormal Activity 3 has grossed $52,568,183 in the United States and Canada, with $26,000,000 in other countries for a worldwide total of $78,568,183.

Sequel

While a sequel has not been officially announced, Paramount Pictures Head of Distribution Don Harris stated that "I can't imagine that we wouldn't make a number four ".

References

1. "Paranormal Activity 3 (15)". Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. British Board of Film Classification. 2011-10-10. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
2. Zeitchik, Steven (October 20, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Paranormal Activity 3' to frighten rivals". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
3. ^ "Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
4. "Global Sites & Release Dates". Paramount Pictures. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
5. Davidson, Danica (July 22, 2011). "'Paranormal Activity 3' Trailer: Discover The Secret". MTV.com. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
6. McWeeny, Drew. "Review: Paranormal Activity 3 expands the mythology, ups the scale of scares". HitFix.com. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
7. "EXCLUSIVE Breaking News - Paranormal Activity 3 on Its Way!!!". DreadCentral.com. November 17, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
8. "Horror News: Director James Wan to Hunt a Spectre; Catfish Helmers to Tackle Paranormal Activity 3". reelz. May 9, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
9. "San Diego Comic-Con 2011: The First Teaser Trailer for Paranormal Activity 3 Is Waiting to Rape You; Oren Peli Speaks!". DreadCentral.com. July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
10. "Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
11. "Paranormal Activity 3 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
12. McClintock, Pamela (October 21, 2011). "Box Office Report: 'Paranormal Activity 3' on Course for Jaw-Dropping $45 Mil to $50 Mil Weekend". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111019/REVIEWS/111029999
14. Box office update: 'Paranormal Activity 3' records best opening day ($26.2 mil) since 'Harry Potter'
15. Subers, Ray (October 23, 2011). "Weekend Report: 'Paranormal' Possesses Fall Record". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
16. "Top Fall Opening Weekends at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
17. Stewart, Andrew (October 23, 2011). "'Paranormal' screams to top of B.O." Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
18. "Paramount Exec: 'I Can't Imagine We Wouldn't Make Paranormal 4'". The Wrap. October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Paranormal Activity 3 at IMDb
• Template:Allrovi movie
• Paranormal Activity 3 at Box Office Mojo
• Paranormal Activity 3 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Paranormal Activity 3 at Metacritic

• 2011 films
• 2010s horror films
• American films
• American horror films
• English-language films
• Films set in 1988
• Found footage films
• Independent films
• Prequel films
• Paramount Pictures films