20 TERRIBLE Horror Movies That Were Huge Hits
11. Paranormal Activity 4
Paranormal Activity is one of the great horror success stories of the last 20 years, given that Oren Peli's micro-budget $15,000 original grossed $194.2 million worldwide and in turn launched a still-ongoing franchise.
The original trilogy of films were all decently received by critics and fans alike, with the second and third movies basically replicating the box office success of the original on still-modest budgets of just a few million dollars. But the wheels finally came off the enterprise, at least where quality is concerned, with 2012's Paranormal Activity 4, which was rightly panned for largely rehashing the series' prior successes while failing to bring much fresh or original to the table.
Yet that didn't stop Paranormal Activity 4 from grossing $142.8 million, which, while a notable drop from the three previous films, was still a massive return on a mere $5 million price tag.
This did appear to mark the point at which the law of diminishing returns began to kick in, though, as the two Paranormal Activity movies released theatrically since - 2014's The Marked Ones and 2015's The Ghost Dimension - grossed "just" $90.9 million and $78.9 million each.
It'll certainly be interesting to see if the upcoming eighth PA picture, which is being designed as a theatrical relaunch for the franchise, restores its former commercial glory.