Theaters refusing to show new 'Paranormal Activity' because of VOD strategy

If you were hoping to check out the newest film in the Paranormal Activity series next week, bad news: it may not be playing at your local theater anymore.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, many theater chains are refusing to screen Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension when it opens on Oct. 23. It will now only be playing in 1,400 locations, whereas the previous Paranormal film opened in nearly 3,000 theaters.

What's the deal? Well, Paramount is experimenting with a new VOD strategy where their movies will be available for rental shortly after they play on the big screen. With their new model, you would be able to watch The Ghost Dimension on demand 17 days after it leaves theaters. The most recent Paranormal film was out for seven weeks, so assuming The Ghost Dimension is in theaters for a similar amount of time, you'd be able to rent it towards the end of the December.

That might seem like a while, but films like these typically take longer than two months to hit DVD. Theaters want that wait to be as long as possible so that consumers have an incentive to go to the cinema. If they can just hold out for a few weeks and see the film at home, why not do that? In a time when multiplexes are being threatened by Netflix and VOD, this window of exclusivity is extremely important.

Meanwhile, studio executives want to release the movie for streaming as soon as possible while it's still on people's minds, so this is creating an interesting struggle between theater chains and studios.

That being said, the most recent Paranormal Activity came out on Blu-ray just two months after leaving theaters, so it's unclear why this is a big deal now when it wasn't then.

Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore told THR that they're confident they'll make up whatever they lose in theatrical revenue on digital sales down the road.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension opens on Oct. 23 (in theaters that decide to show it, that is).