'Devil Inside' rakes in millions, inspires audiences to boo and hiss at ending

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/9/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Overwhelmingly negative reviews, low-budget horror flick makes $34.5 million opening weekend

While most "found footage" horror films such as "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project" make the majority of their audiences scream with delight, this past weekend's "The Devil Inside" has made audiences boo, hiss and hurl objects at the screen. Despite this, in addition to overwhelmingly negative reviews, "Devil" raked in $34.5 million in box office receipts its opening weekend.

The overall negative reaction to 'Devil,' stems from what many feel is an unsatisfactory ending, that concludes with an apocalyptic finale followed by an infuriating title card instructing viewers to log on to a Web site.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "The Devil Inside," about exorcists trying to free a woman possessed by evil spirits, was the first qualified hit of the movie going year, performing well above all industry expectations.

Overall domestic revenues totaled $144 million, up 29 percent from the same weekend last year, when "True Grit" led with $14.6 million. The remainders of the films this past weekend were holdovers from the week before.

According to Paramount, 59 percent of viewers for "The Devil Inside" were under 25 and 85 percent were under 35, prime viewers for Hollywood who had not turned up in their usual numbers for much of last year.

Paramount managed to intrigue young adults, disinterested in the rush of family films and Academy Awards contenders that crowded into theaters over the holidays to the film with clever online marketing.

The only new wide release of the weekend after the holiday crush, "The Devil Inside" debuted at what is historically a good time for something different to sneak in and become an unexpected hit.

"For that under-25, under-35 audience that's looking for something else, that first weekend in January has always been a great weekend to release a movie," Don Harris, head of distribution for Paramount said. "When we saw that weekend open, we took it."

"The Devil Inside" followed the pattern of many contemporary horror movies, which pack in crowds on opening day then tumble quickly after that. With $16.85 million on Friday, "The Devil Inside" did nearly half of its business in the first day, with revenues falling to $11.75 million Saturday and an estimated $5.9 million Sunday.

The overall negative reaction to "Devil," stems from what many feel is an unsatisfactory ending, that concludes with an apocalyptic finale followed by an infuriating title card instructing viewers to log on to a Web site.

The weekend box office went like this:

1. "The Devil Inside," $34.5 million.

2. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," $20.5 million.

3. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $14.1 million.

4. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," $11.3 million.

5. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $9.5 million.

6. "War Horse," $8.6 million.

7. "We Bought a Zoo," $8.5 million.

8. "The Adventures of Tintin," $6.6 million.

9. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," $5.8 million.

10. "New Year's Eve," $3.3 million.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: The devil Inside, box office, horror film, found footage

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1 - 2 of 2 Comments

DLL
1 year ago
Devil movies demonstrate that the makers of them are better acquainted with hell than they are with any concept of a heaven. All themes that deal with evil and the devil seem to be the "money makers". Horror movies today seem to teach people how to be incredibly cruel to one another and how to mistrust each other. Gone is any meaning or significant "social redeeming social value". In todays horror films evil is for the sake of portraying pure evil on film. These evils or less likely to be overcome by a greater good in films today.To truly be possessed by evil is to believe that there is no such thing as evil in the first place. Know thy enemy. Evil is evil and totally without any socially redeeming element. The greatest enemy we all have comes from within each of us. It is sin. This is what confession does as it is for the exorcism of our sins. Exorcism movies should make all of us want to go to confession,to make a good confession.
abey
1 year ago
The name "Devil Inside" sounds similar to Hinduism's "Awakening the Kundalini inside", as some sort of a (false) spiritual enlightenment. For the Devil has the penchant for projecting things Evil & destructive as good to some & "absorbing" to many. Incidentally these Hollywood borrowings tune in with the "Obamanic democracy" , policies borrowed off Pagan Philosophies. But any one who knows His Bible can understand it to be in relation to the hidden sin inherited in the garden. In all of this there is a hidden & non-Productive but counterproductive, hence deceitful "sexual perversion" or promiscuity present.

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