Paranormal Activity on Broadway Cracks $1 Million Weeks

By Tom Whitfield

The Broadway adaptation of Paranormal Activity has posted a box-office week above $1 million in ticket sales, and its run has now been extended through February 28, 2027. The show, which opened in August, has played to near-full-capacity houses nearly every week since previews, with revenue climbing almost every week, according to Broadway World.

Much of the commercial momentum traces back to the marketing team at theater agency SpotCo. Led by co-managing director and chief creative officer Callie Goff, the team modernized the playbook the original 2009 Paramount Pictures film used — night-vision footage of terrified audiences — for a live stage property, layering in content creators and user-generated content.

One challenge shaped the whole campaign: selling a horror property to horror fans and non-fans at once.

"How do we keep the specificity of what this is, and the excitement of what this is as a true horror property," Goff said, "but also [make sure] people know that even if you don't love horror movies or if you consider yourself a scaredy cat, there's really something still here for you in this experience?"

What carried over from the film?

Paramount's 2009 campaign for the first Paranormal Activity film leaned on trailers showing night-vision audience reactions, framing communal viewing as the core value proposition. SpotCo rebuilt that strategy for the stage, where the live audience is part of the product.

The team filmed crowds at several performances before and during the Broadway debut, including touring stops in London and Boston and New York's first preview. Some tapings captured invited content creators; others filmed regular theatergoers who agreed to appear in promotional materials. The footage fed social videos and digital billboards across New York, including one billboard reading "And they say live theater is dead."

"I think it works because it's so singular. You don't see reactions like that to typical things, and I think we can all relate to it," Goff said. "At SpotCo, we talk a lot about when we're selling a show, we're not selling the plot. We're not selling literally what happens on the stage. We're selling the emotional promise and a sense of what the experience you're going to have is going to be."

The hero reaction video has drawn 2.4 million views across the show's Instagram and TikTok accounts. More reaction-based creative is coming, Goff said, this time built around audience heart rates.

How did the team manufacture word of mouth?

Goff treated word of mouth as a lever to pull before the show reached New York. SpotCo invited a strategic mix of 800 people — creators, theater fans and other likely advocates — to the show's first 12 performances. The agency also flew 10 additional creators to Boston for an early look, giving them extra time to talk about the experience online.

The result was a wave of unpaid user-generated content. SpotCo then reached out to convert some of that UGC into paid advertising.

"We saw the UGC was incredible and could really do more than even the advertising could do," Goff said. "As consumers, I think we sometimes can get a little jaded. You're not going to trust, necessarily, the brand to tell you how great it is, but when a person who you admire, who you trust their opinion, is also telling you, 'No, it's really, really good,' [you might]."

The approach lands as marketers across industries push to eventize campaigns and entertainment IP increasingly lives or dies on word of mouth. Goff sees a broader shift behind the numbers.

"In a world where we are more isolated, more digital, you can stream anything at home by yourself, there is this urge to experience things live and communally," she said. "You can't duplicate this experience. You can't duplicate what's happening on stage a second time…You certainly can't duplicate what happens in the audience."

With the run locked through late February 2027 and heart-rate creative still in reserve, the show's reaction-led playbook has room to keep compounding.