The nominations are in! Jennifer Lawrence read off the names of the year’s nominees for the 84th Academy Awards on Tuesday morning (January 24). “The Artist” and “The Descendants” both emerged as Best Picture favorites after big nights at the Golden Globes, but Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” led the field of nominations with 11 total. Billy Crystal will return for his ninth turn as host when the ceremony airs February 26th on ABC at 7 p.m. ET.

Here is the full list of the nominees:

Best Picture
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Moneyball”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“Margin Call”
“Midnight in Paris”
“A Separation”

Best Art Direction
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2″
“Hugo”
“War Horse”

Best Cinematography
“The Artist”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Costume Design
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“The Help”
“Jane Eyre”
“W.E.”

Best Film Editing
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”

Best Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2″
“The Iron Lady”

Best Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“War Horse”

Best Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
“Real in rio” from “RIO”

Best Sound Editing
“Drive”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse” (alt. “The Adventures of Tintin”)

Best Sound Mixing
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon
“War Horse”

Best Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Monsieur Lazhar” – Canada
“Bullhead” – Canada
“A Separation” – Iran
“Footnote” – Israel
“In Darkness” – Poland

Best Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris”
“Chico & Rico”
“Kung Fu Panda 2″
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

Best Animated Short Film
“Dimanche/Sunday”
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”
“La Luna”
“A Morning Stroll”
“Wild Life”

Best Short Film
“Pentecost”
“Rajua”
“The Shore”
“Time Freak”
“Tuba Atlantic”

Best Documentary Feature
“Hell and Back Again”
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
“Pina”
“Undefeated”

Best Documentary Short
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
“God is the Bigger Elvis”
“Incident in New Baghdad”
“Saving Face”
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

It has been rumored that Liam Neeson returned to film a scene for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Neeson played villain Ra’s al Ghul in Nolan’s Batman Begins, which hit theaters in 2005.

“I can tell you nothing about Dark Knight Rises, seriously,” Neeson says. “I was on set for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn’t tell me anything of what it’s about. So, I’m being very honest when I say I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

Looks like we’ll have to wait until July 20th to see if Neeson actually filmed a scene.

“Underworld: Awakening” and “Red Tails” opened to better-than-expected numbers at the domestic box office this weekend, taking $25.4 million and $19.1, respectively.

“Underworld’s” number was strong enough that Sony’s distribution chief, Rory Bruer, told TheWrap Sunday morning that he “would be surprised if there wasn’t” a fifth “Underworld” movie.”

Also of note: Summit’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ crossed the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office this weekend. It has taken $701.3 million since its Nov. 18, 2011 release and is on track to become the highest-grossing film of the “Twilight” franchise.

The weekend’s strong figures came despite snow storms in the east and midwest, and marked yet another good weekend for the box office, which is up about 32 percent compared to the same weekend in 2011.

Among specialty releases, meanwhile, Fox Searchlight’s “The Descendants” — possibly gaining a bump from its Golden Globe for best drama — took $2.4 million in 560 locations. That number pushed it past the $50 million mark. The Weinstein Company’s “The Iron Lady,” which won Meryl Streep a best actress for Golden Globe, remained No. 10 for the second week in a row.

Between Screen Gems’ “Underworld: Awakening,” the fourth installment in the studio’s vampire-and-werewolf franchise, and Universal’s “Contraband,” Kate Beckinsale starred in the No. 1 and No. 3 movies in North America.

“Contraband,” which was No. 1 last week, continued drawing audiences, and grossed $12.2 million in its second weekend.

Sony, which owns Screen Gems, attributed the success of “Underworld: Awakening” to several factors, including the return of Beckinsale to the role of Selene, the vampire warrior she originated.

The studio also noted that “Underworld Awakening” is the first of the “Underworld” franchise shown in 3D and IMAX. Sony noted that 3D made up 59 percent of opening weekend receipts, and IMAX made up another 15 percent.

According to IMAX, the movie took $3.8 million on 254 digital IMAX locations.

“This has been a fun ride for us,” Bruer told TheWrap.

He said the movie, which received a score of “A-” from the audience survey firm Cinemascore, skewed slightly male: 55 percent of the audience was male and 60 percent was 25 and older.

The studio had expected “Underworld Awakening,” which cost about $70 million to make, would gross between $20 million and $22 million over the weekend.

“But we hit the high end and there were weather factors,” Bruer said. “That really bodes well for how the film will continue to perform.”
Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein directed.

Overseas, “Underworld: Awakening” grossed $13.4 million, making it No. 1 in a dozen of the 20 international markets where it debuted.
Fox, too, was upbeat.

Studio executives had projected that the PG-13 “Red Tails,” about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, would gross $10 million to $12 million, although less conservative outside box-office watchers estimated it would take as much as $18 million.

The $19.1 million take was a surprise.

“It played across all demographics and all across the country,” Fox’s distribution chief, Chris Aronson, told TheWrap Sunday morning.

He noted that the audience was 51 percent male and 49 percent female — a close split, considering “Red Tails” is a war movie.

“Red Tails,” which executive producer George Lucas financed, cost $58 million to make.

“George has believed in this movie for 20-odd years and all I can say is, he was right,” Aronson said.

The Tuskegee Airmen were African American pilots in the segregated U.S. Army Air Corps.

“It’s a story that not too many people know about,” Aronson said. “And now a lot of people will know about.”

He said the movie, directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bryan Cranston, slightly overindexed in African American markets, and that the only North American locations where the movie did not perform especially well were in Canada.

The movie received an “A” Cinemascore.

The other two new movies of the weekend, Warner’s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and Relativity’s “Haywire,” met or slightly exceeded projections.

“Extremely Loud,” in its first week of wide release after spending four weeks in limited release, took $10.5 million.

Steven Daldry directed the PG-13 movie is about a 9-year-old boy whose father is killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and who searches for the lock that matches a key the man left behind.

The movie, which stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, received an “A-” Cinemascore rating.

Outside box-office watchers predicted that “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” would gross about $12 million over the weekend.

Finally, Relativity’s “Haywire,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, grossed $9 million.

The studio had projected that it would take $8 million, and outside box-office watchers figured it would take slightly more than that.

But while critics liked the movie — it has a strong 82 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating — the movie received a stunningly bad “D+” from Cinemascore.

The movie, about a black ops superspy who goes after some high-level bad guys who have set her up, stars mixed martial artist Gina Carano, along with Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum.

Yesterday, there was a Tokyo-based press conference for Marc Webb’s upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man during which new plot details were revealed.

“In our movie, [Peter] finds his true love,” said producer Avi Arad, when asked what sets this adventure apart from Sam Raimi’s trilogy. “Gwen Stacy was always the true love of Peter Parker… We found a very, very good story about what makes a human being. About what sets their destiny.”

“We introduce our villain, Dr. Connors,” he continued, “and in the great tradition of Marvel, Dr. Connors is going to be connected to Peter Parker and, in our case even more interesting, to Gwen Stacy. Right there, the challenge of having to deal with a villain who is a mentor and the only one who you can look at and say, ‘So what really happened to my dad?’ That’s a very hard person to fight.”

“As you can see, a lot of the stunts are practical and grounded in reality,” Andrew Garfield, who plays Peter Parker, explained. “That was something that Marc, the director, really wanted to make sure happened in this movie to set it apart from previous ones… I would exhaust myself every day and get into near-death experiences every hour on the hour… I collaborated with [the stunt team] not only on the big stunt set-pieces but also on what happens to Peter’s body when he gets bitten. What happens to his DNA and how that effects the way he moves and the way he interacts with objects. The idea that he has spider DNA running in his system. What that will do to his sense of space. What that will do to the sensitivity of his skin. To have an opportunity to play in that forum with creative and talented people was a real opportunity and gift.”

Also, Emma Stone reiterated that her take on Gwen Stacy will be a complete departure from the version played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3.

“We haven’t even met Mary Jane at this point,” she said, in an arguably cryptic statement.

When asked if the film would duplicate the upside down kiss from the original, Stone said no, but then responded with the following when asked if Webb’s version would offer something similarly iconic:

“You don’t want to know! You want to watch the movie and find out. Plus, it would be weird if we were like, ‘There’s something iconic coming up!’ You’ve got to decide if it’s iconic or not. But there is a nice first kiss and it’s different than the upside down one. And we liked it.”

The Amazing Spider-Man opens domestically on July 3rd in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters.

Tommy Lee Jones has landed a role in the upcoming Peter Webber historical drama Emperor. He’ll play the part of General Douglas MacArthur. The movie is inspired by true events.

Emperor is an epic story of love and understanding set amidst the tensions and uncertainties of the days immediately following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. On the staff of General Douglas MacArthur, the de facto ruler of Japan as Supreme Commander of the occupying forces.

Of the casting, Producer Gary Foster said: “Tommy will bring strength, intelligence, and gravitas to the portrayal of General Douglas MacArthur, a legendary American hero.”

Based on a screenplay by David Klass (Walking Tall, Desperate Measures, Kiss the Girls) and Vera Blasi (Woman on Top, Tortilla Flats), Emperor stars Matthew Fox as General Bonner Fellers, one of MacArthur’s leading Japanese experts, who, at the end of World War II, is charged with reaching a decision of historical importance: should Emperor Hirohito be tried and hanged as a war criminal?

Interwoven with this nail-biting political thriller is the story of Fellers’ love affair with Aya, a Japanese exchange student he had met years previously in the U.S. Memories of Aya and his quest to find her in the ravaged post-war landscape help Fellers to discover both his wisdom and his humanity and enable him to come to the momentous decision that changed the course of history and the future of two nations.

Emperor will be produced by Foster (Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Sleepless in Seattle, The Soloist), Yoko Narahashi (The Last Samurai) Eugene Nomura (Tajomaru, Surely Some Day) and Russ Krasnoff (The Soloist). Emperor is a co-production between Fellers Film and Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment.

Production is due to begin this month with lensing to take place in New Zealand and Japan.

The 2012 Golden Globe Awards took place last night in Beverly Hills with Ricky Gervais as the host. Here is the complete list of categories, nominees and winners.

Best Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
50/50
WINNER: The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
WINNER: George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Musical
WINNER: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson The Guard
Joseph Gordon Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
WINNER: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
WINNER: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best TV Series Drama
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
WINNER: Homeland

Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Hugh Bonnevile, Downton Abbey
WINNER: Idris Elba, Luther
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, The Hour

Best Actor in a TV Series – Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
WINNER: Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downtown Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
WINNER: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Director – Motion Picture
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
WINNER: Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
WINNER: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
WINNER: Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
WINNER: Midnight in Paris
The Ides of March
The Artist
The Descendants
Moneyball

Best Animated Feature Film
WINNER: The Adventures of Tin-Tin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss N Boots
Rango

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
WINNER: “Masterpiece” — W.E.
Music & Lyrics by: Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry
“Hello Hello” — Gnomeo & Juliet
Music by: Elton John
Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin
“The Keeper” — Machine Gun Preacher
Music & Lyrics by: Chris Cornell
“Lay Your Head Down” — Albert Nobbs
Music by: Brian Byrne
Lyrics by: Glenn Close
“The Living Proof” — The Help
Music by: Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr.
Lyrics by: Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
WINNER: The Artist
W.E.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
War Horse

Best Foreign Language Film
Flowers of War
In the Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid With the Bike
The Skin I Live In
WINNER: A Separation

Best TV Series – Comedy
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
WINNER: Modern Family
New Girl

Best Actor in a TV Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
David Duchovny, Californication
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane, Hung
WINNER: Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Best Actress in a TV Series Comedy or Musical
WINNER: Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Actress in a TV Drama Series
WINNER: Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeline Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
WINNER: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
WINNER: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Kelly MacDonald, Game of Thrones
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce

Best TV Movie or Miniseries
Cinema Verite
WINNER: Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail

Contraband

Release Date: January 13, 2012

Genre: Action, Thriller

MPAA Rating: R

Studio: Universal Pictures

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Screenwriter: Aaron Guzikowski

Trailer

Movie Website: Contrabandmovie.net

Actors/Actresses: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones, Lukas Haas, Diego Luna, J.K. Simmons

Plot Summary: Mark Wahlberg leads the cast of “Contraband,” a fast-paced thriller about a man trying to stay out of a world he worked so hard to leave behind and the family he’ll do anything to protect. Set in New Orleans, the film explores the cutthroat underground world of international smuggling — full of desperate criminals and corrupt officials, high-stakes and big payoffs — where loyalty rarely exists and death is one wrong turn away.
Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best–running contraband–to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Ben Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills.
Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Joyful Noise

Release Date: January 13, 2012

Genre: Comedy, Musical

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Director: Todd Graff

Screenwriter: Todd Graff

Trailer

Movie Website: JoyfulNoisethemovie.com

Actors/Actresses: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Courtney B. Vance, Jeremy Jordan, Kris Kristofferson

Plot Summary: “Joyful Noise” is a funny and inspirational story of music, hope, love and renewal. The small town of Pacashau, Georgia, has fallen on hard times, but the people are counting on the Divinity Church Choir to lift their spirits by winning the National Joyful Noise Competition. The choir has always known how to sing in harmony, but the discord between its two leading ladies now threatens to tear them apart. Their newly appointed director, Vi Rose Hill (Latifah), stubbornly wants to stick with their tried-and-true traditional style, while the fiery G.G. Sparrow (Parton) thinks tried-and-true translates to tired-and-old. Shaking things up even more is the arrival of G.G.’s rebellious grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan). Randy has an ear for music, but he also has an eye for Vi Rose’s beautiful and talented daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer), and the sparks between the two teenagers are causing even more friction between G.G. and Vi Rose. If these two strong-willed women can put aside their differences for the good of the people in their town, they–and their choir–may make the most joyful noise of all.

Beauty and the Beast 3D

Release Date: January 13, 2012 (3D/2D theaters)

Genre: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Romance

MPAA Rating: G

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Director: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

Screenwriter: Linda Woolverton

Trailer

Movie Website: Disney.com/BeautyandtheBeast

Actors/Actresses: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Pierce, Rex Everhart, Jesse Corti, Hal Smith, Jo Anne Worley

Plot Summary: Originally released in 1991, “Beauty and the Beast” is a classic “tale as old as time” that follows the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman imprisoned in the castle of a mysterious beast and his enchanted staff, who must learn the most important lesson of all – that true beauty comes from within. “Beauty and the Beast” was the first animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Picture, earning an additional five Oscar® nominations and winning two. It has grossed $380.4 million worldwide.

Lindsay Lohan, 25, is in talks to play Elizabeth Taylor in the upcoming Lifetime biopic “Elizabeth & Richard: A Love Story.”

Lohan is still in early conversations about the project.

The film will chronicle the romance between Taylor and Richard Burton, to whom she was married twice, from 1964 to 1974 and again from 1975 to 1976.

Improbable as it might seem, Lohan has had her experience playing — or at least channeling — screen legends lately, namely in her Marilyn Monroe-inspired nude pictorial for the January/February 2012 issue of Playboy.

Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March 2011, at the age of 79.

Who doesn’t love a good scary movie? People flocked to theaters this weekend to catch the opening of Paramount’s horror pic The Devil Inside. The film opened to $34.5 million.

The Devil Inside took the number one spot away from Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol opened Dec. 20 and has grossed a worldwide total of $458.1 million.

Sherlock Holmes – Game of Shadows brought in $14.1 million this weekend, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo earned $11.3 million.

The Devil Inside was acquired by the studio for only $1 million.

Paramount announced that Paranormal Activity 4 will be released in 2012, continuing the successful low-budget horror franchise that has banked nearly $300 million in the last three years. The third film debuted in October to a $52.6 million weekend, on its way to a $103.8 million run. In a press release trumpeting the studio’s 2011 successes – notably a record $5.17 billion worldwide in grosses — Paramount confirmed that another Paranormal Activity was on its way this year, along with Brad Pitt’s World War Z, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator.

The success of the Paranormal Activity films, made on a shoestring budget, is a sizeable victory for Paramount and producers Jason Blum, Oren Peli and Steven Schneider. Paranormal Activity 3 grossed $202.2 million worldwide — besting the first two films, unusual for a third outing.

Paranormal Activity 3 opened to a massive $54 million at the domestic box office over the Oct. 21-Oct. 23 weekend in 2011 — the top launch of all time for a horror pic, as well as the best October debut ever.

The first Paranormal, which cost $15,000 to produce and opened in a limited run in September 2009, went on to gross $193.4 million worldwide. Paranormal 2 cost $3 million to produce, and grossed $177.5 million worldwide.

Paranormal Activity 3 cost $5 million to produce.