'The Fourth Kind' Will Drown in 'Paranormal Activity' Wake

There is always the unfortunate situation of an indie film coming out and catching on with the mainstream audience, destroying whatever chance the studio equivalent had of making any money. It is a rare situation to feel bad for the studio, but I do feel a bit that way in regards to Universal's The Fourth Kind. The early reviews have been very ho-hum, but what's especially troubling is that the film is going for the "these events really happened" angle, which while not exactly the same as the "this is real footage" gimmick Paranormal Activity (domestic gross: $86 million and counting) used, audiences have already believed their share of real, spooky phenomena for the year.

The Fourth Kind (which I never really wanted to see, though looks like it might resemble one of the better X-Files episode) begins with actress Milla Jovovich as herself, stating that the interviews in the film are based on real footage. It's a clever idea, but you can feel the studio's slick hands all over the trailers for this one, which will be laughabled in the face of Paranormal Activity's (pseudo) authenticity.

I suppose at this point it would just taint Fourth Kind to move it to another date. Universal will just have to bite the bullet and hope to break even. Or maybe they'll just stop making Milla Jovovich vehicles. That's not a knock on her, but rather the types of films she stars in that get green lit. Although, A Perfect Getaway was quite entertaining. Look for that when it comes out on DVD.