Nikki Finke is reporting that Michael Jackson flick THIS IS IT is failing to get the insurmountable numbers promised by studios before it was released. The hype in pre-theaters claimed that THIS IS IT would gather up to $250 mil in just 5 days--making it one of the biggest openings on record..

The truth: The film's money intake is much lower than earlier suggestions. As a matter of fact, the film may not even make it above $40 mil in domestic sales this weekend!

The movie is scoring impressive reviews, and people that are going to see to see it genuinely like it. The Horror Report and company went to see it Friday night in an Imax theater.. the movie was impressive, especially the new reprised Thriller setup.. The movie also put a new light on Michael Jackson: He was heavily involved with the pre-production, and sometimes his perfectionism appeared to annoy those who didn't care as much as him.. Although Joe Jackson recently claimed body doubles were used in the film, there didn't appear to be a mistaken identity when watching Jackson on the screen..

However, the release didn't generate the buzz that Sony may have hoped for.

First night's opening brought in a dismal $7.5 mil for THIS IS IT in over 3400 theaters.. The final projection being talked about by FINKE this weekend is for Jackson's THIS IS IT to win a 5 and a half day $31.5 million--making studio executives promising the world red-faced in horror.

The other continuing story, one well-reported by the Horror Report in recent weeks, is the surge of popularity of inventive film PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. The movie continues to gain new audiences with every passing week--this week PARANORMAL ACTIVITY expanded again and now is playing in 2,404 theaters nationwide, far exceeding those 12 lonely college towns that it originally saw the movie.

Deadline Hollywood reporting that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY may see a strong $16 mil weekend.

The best story of the week is the continuing collapse of needless gorefest SAW VI: it's only having a few million in sales this weekend and may end on Sunday with a pitiful $5 mil--goodbye to those old days of chart-topping SAW Halloweens..

Developing..