“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”[/movie] has had the most impact at the box office this year, being the only picture to gross more than $400 million domestically. But, in terms of pure profit, the big story is the indie-turned-weekend-champion “Paranormal Activity,” which cost just $15,000 to create and grossed $22 million from Friday to Sunday.

“Paranormal” is set to expand its run this weekend from 1,945 locations to around 2,400, and having grossed $65.1 million through Wednesday on a production budget of less than $15,000, it has already surpassed the film it is most often compared to, “The Blair Witch Project,” as the most profitable film of all time.

The Wrap revealed an astonishing 434,000 percent return on investment when comparing the “Paranormal” production budget to its global box office take. Given that the picture has only recently had a broad distribution, that figure is sure to rise in the coming weeks.

“Paranormal” has progressively grown from 12 to 33 to 160 to 760 to this weekend’s 1,945 cinemas – a trend that some have questioned, but one that Don Harris, Executive VP of Distribution for Paramount, attributes to the horror film’s popularity.

“Everybody else thought we should be going faster than we were,” he told TheWrap. “But I thought we were doing a pretty good job of seeding the ground as we went. I don’t know that we would have done a lot more last weekend if we would have added a bunch of runs then.”

The next main opponent is “The Blair Witch Project,” another independent horror film from 1999. With a $60,000 production expenditure, that film had a 414,000 percent ROI. Following two pre-Depression-era films, “ET: The Extraterrestrial” generated the fifth highest percentage, a comparatively low return of 7,000 percent.

“[T]his movie is probably more important than one that does $300 million or $400 million,” Don Harris, executive VP of distribution for Paramount, which released “Paranormal,” told TheWrap.

Harris was probably as relieved as he was ecstatic on Sunday that the film’s distribution plan lived up to the buzz surrounding Paramount’s viral marketing campaign.

According to reports, the company spent less than $10 million on marketing the film.

Unsurprisingly, the studio is considering bringing additional “Paranormal” films to the big screen. “We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do ‘Paranormal 2,’ and we’re looking to see if that makes some sense,” Paramount chairman Brad Grey told the Los Angeles Times. “No one expected it to do this well this quickly. Our heads are spinning.”