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Cinemark Pulls Paranormal Activity 2 Trailer Over Complaints

by Alex Billington
June 30, 2010
Source: Variety

This is either a big surprise or a brilliant marketing tactic. Variety says that movie theater chain Cinemark, based out of Plano, Texas, has pulled the Paranormal Activity 2 trailer from "several theaters" in Texas after receiving numerous complaints from moviegoers that the trailer was "too frightening." Did any of our readers think this trailer was too scary to see in theaters, or without a red band label in front of it? The trailer has been playing in front of Summit's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which opened today, and probably explains why there were even any complaints to begin with. But will this maybe help them build more buzz?

Paranormal Activity is obviously marketed entirely on scares and hearing that a trailer was so frightening that it had to be pulled is a great accidental way of building some extra word-of-mouth buzz for this sequel to Oren Peli's low budget horror flick. Cinemark is already prepared to pull the trailer from more theaters if they keep receiving more complaints. It's sad to see a company so easily pushed around by their customers, but I guess that's because they put the audience first. But the trailer was MPAA approved and I'm sorry if a couple people can't handle a few minor jump scares. That doesn't mean everyone can't handle it, come on!

I'd almost like to say this is okay because it could help the buzz, but I can't stand when movie theaters make drastic changes because a few customers complained. It's the same with the sound being too loud or posters being too offensive. Sometimes marketing does cross the line, but this time I just think some Twilight teens were too scared and Cinemark caved way too easily. What do you guys think? Too scary or just wussies?

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Sean

"I just think some Twilight teens were too scared" After I read "The trailer has been playing in front of Summit's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" I thought that exact same thing! lol
sjophotography

Just like the first film, amazing marketing. this is doing exactly what they want to build the perfect kinda buzz around (personally) a film i think dosent need a sequel because the original was perfect. i am going to see this because they continue to be so smart in the way they bring it to the audience... or in this case dont lol.
lego

trailer was not scary at all. marketing ploy for sure. didn't find the 1st movie particularly scary either. sure, it was more of a psychological scary, but i get more scared by things popping out at me, which it did do at the end, but was ruined some clips beforehand. tho overall a good 1st movie, once i saw Big Birds footprints on the floor, that was it. I giggled and sat back and waited for what i knew was coming at the end. owell, hope the second ones better.
Al

I was going to comment that this was all a big hoax until I saw that it was played infront of Twilight. Now that I know that, I can guarantee without a doubt that the complaints were indeed real.
funny tunney

Cinemark did the same thing on the first Twilight, but I'm having a really hard time remembering what it was. I remember the issue had to do with the targeted audience.
Sroe

Considering the first movie was not only not frightening in the slightest and this one looks even less impressive with an actual physical being standing there rather then scary invisible demons. I'll go see this for free and mock it with my friends once again. It's a shame Horror has gone down from the original gods of the genre.
DaftPUNKFAN

You serious hahaha? The trailer is NOT scary at all. I bet they just have a bunch of sisy ass people who are to hung up on believing in a thing such as evil and their whole concept of GOD. What a fucken joke these kind of people are. It sucks that they are close minded like that, well their loss on an entertaining film.
DoomCanoe

damn good marketing bastards
TheLOLrapist

@7 couldn't agree more with you! LMAO!
sonnychiba1

Twilight fans. What do you expect. Stick a spooky soundtrack over the carebears movie and they'd pap it.
Cineprog

This is just too daft to laugh at twilight Eclipse teens were too scared of Paranormal Activity trailer 2, there their to see a Vampire sucking blood out of living people and their that if that happens in one of these movies or is it just the hunks.
orly

If this trailer is scary, then I'm the king of [insert country].
beavis

"too scary"?????? it wasn't scary at all. in fact, it looks as lame as the first movie.
Logan

If those tweens can survive the horror of cocklight they should have no problem with this trailer
Craig

Too scary my ass, this is a marketing ploy.
deadpool 72

yeah,it scared the shit out of those twilight pussy's or just clever marketing.
Alex O

HOAX. The first one was a Blair Witch rip off anyway.
Jimmy Love

Whats scary is that your just fueling the fire by reporting on this you know that it was not scary. but i guess some people lack integrity. Atrocity!
Troy

If it was a marketing ploy they would have pulled it from all the theatres, not just the ones located in the area that they got complaints from. The marketing ploy is created by websites like this who report on it. What you fail to understand is that it's not just teens going to see Twilight. A big majority of the audience is under 13 years of age. So you should be blaming the idiot parents who take their underage children to a PG-13 movie and then complain when content shows up on the screen that is meant for 13+. Cinemark obviously cannot tell their customers this so in turn they take the easier route out for themselves, removing the trailer. Parents now a days want their children policed by everyone else excepts themselves.
goliad

Its sad when all it takes is a couple of jump edits to terrify an audience. I wouldnt consider the PA series to be strong on story. but, it would be nice to have some substance in the script rather than rely on the editing to make it scary.
euphemist

I applaud the marketing and publicity folks at Paramount for getting this story to spread so damn quickly. Any press is good press (despite the medocrity of the content). Clearly this film (alike its predecessor) is alright generating a ton of it. I wouldn't doubt that this sequel is going to yield an impressive box office and that there are more viral campaigns to come.
lamar

um...WHAT? BTW #7, you make it sound as if evil does not really exists. Sir or madam, allow me to introduce you to the REAL WORLD (not the reality show). HeHe
1544K

I call BS! Marketing BS...Like I said in my previous post on the trailer comments. The first one SUCKED. It was the marketing that made it successful. This looks like more of the same; lame shots and sound f/x. What's happening to Hunter? Who cares if its the same concept? This BS trailer ban leads me to believe that PA2 is more of the same sh!t. As Les Grossman would say "sit back and enjoy my 2 hr pile of sh!t" Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/06/29/first-trailer-for-paramounts-paranormal-activity-2-unleashed/#comments#ixzz0sSO4KOMI
CJ

i love to hear the screams of cocklight girls when the teaser trailer for PA2 came on and that dude gets thrown to screen that's shit was so funny. but i think paramount is getting some good publicity doing this and it work. and once again that trailer scared the crap out of those's twilight cunts and it was so funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
harrison

scary? no. whats scary is the amount of people who think twilight is good...
harrison

hell, scooby doo cartoons are scarier than this shit
EJP

All together now .... publicity stunt!
Ray

That has to be the GAYEST thing ive ever heard!
Nick

That's not scary at all. Heck, there's not enough there to even give me any confidence that the movie in its entirety would be scary. But I'm not at all surprised that "Twilight" fans find it unsettling. Gosh, they can't even stomach a vampire that doesn't "sparkle". Geez.
L1A

ridiculous!
ek

trailer was meh shitbox, not scary at all. this is probably just some bs guerilla marketing ploy to up the hype
chris

really? it was not scary.. bunch of pansies... to pull something like this b/c of one city...how many other cities complained? none! ~ and if this is a marketing ploy as some previous posters are suggesting then... the marketing team needs to come up with something better...if anything.. you've just turned a bunch of people turned off already by doing a trailer... need another marketing meeting people..
ZombiePride

The first movie was creepy a little in the way they presented it, but it takes more then that to make me happy (so far "Ju On" still takes the cake). Twilight fans need to stop sucking on their mom's tits and learn what a good movie is, so if you want to see a good vampire movie then see Let the right one in and Thirst, you won't be disappointed.
blasphemer

just when ya think people cant get any more pathetic at pimping their worthless POS films, along comes another surprise...anyway, Twilight fans are still pre-pubies.....ANYTHING will scare them....
Matthew

Just watching the trailer on YouTube scared the daylights out of me, but only because of the cheating scare cut. I mean, I consider it cheating when the camera randomly cuts to this scary looking woman jumping face first into the camera and screaming. I think it's a good thing it was pulled out of theaters, and I highly doubt this is a promotional tactic. The trailer is fricken scary.
NIC

i saw the first one and it was ptretty scary but im 13 and the trailer for the second one isnt scary at all nobody does anything except for the beggining
thefranticle

I'm 13 not scary at all the 1st 1 was scary but awesome I hope this 1 is 2
Lee

I did not find it scary, but I did find it offensive. 2 years ago, that trailer would not have bothered me...but now that I have my own baby and after almost losing her, I think some subjects should just be off limits. Anything that gets a rise by suggesting harming an innocent little baby is disgusting, in my opinion. I enjoyed the first movie...don't think I could stomach the second.
Star

I can't believe that the movie trailer Paranormal Activity 2 is being pulled just because a few customers couldn't handle it. OMG!!, yes, they are wussies. If they saw the first paranormal activity, what is the big deal about paranormal activity 2. So what, paranormal activity 2 is a bit scarier. its suppose to be. i think the trailer is FANTASTIC and i can't wait to see the movie. Customers like those wussies should not being going to watch the trailer then. that's on them. BIG BABIES!! they're ruining it for everyone else. how sad and selfish.
steven allan

i think it is minging and should not bee out in the movies putting a kid in it very sick aww am rajin like a hate in a hated the first one and a watched ten seconds eh it and shite ma self a can not think why any one would want to watch this film man