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Movie theater accidentally screens ‘Paranormal Activity 4′ instead of ‘Madagascar 3′

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Photo: Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures

A Cineworld movie theater in Nottingham, U.K. experienced an unfortunate snafu, when instead of screening "Madagascar 3" to an auditorium full of kids, it accidentally projected "Paranormal Activity 4" on the silver screen. Chaos ensued.

According to a blog from Yahoo! Movies U.K., the parents grabbed their kids and ran from the theater. They suspected something was amiss when the opening scene of "Paranormal Activity 4" featured (SPOILER ALERT) a corpse hurtling toward the camera. The little kids, who were expecting sassy penguins and talking zebras, weren't amused.

Natasha Lewis of Bulwell in Nottingham, who took her 8-year-old son Dylan to see talking animated animals, said the unexpected horror movie scene was "enough to make grown men jump, so you can imagine the terror in these young faces."

She continued: "Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming. Everyone was very upset. I've watched a few horror films in my time but the 'Paranormal Activity' films are the scariest since 'The Exorcist'. It was only about two minutes worth of the film but it was enough to scar them for life. There were parents and kids in there, including some children who were younger than Dylan."

The movie theater apologized for the error, refunded ticket costs, and later screened the real "Madagascar 3" for the folks who stuck around. A spokesperson said, "We take matters such as this very seriously and are currently working with technicians to ensure this does not happen again."

See the trailer for 'Paranormal Activity 4':

'Paranormal Activity 4' Theatrical Trailer

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