It’s been a while since I’ve seen any kind of news on this project, but since I just had the crap scared out of me by Oren Peli’s creation, or a sequel to his creation, Paranormal Activity, I thought I’d toss this one out there… (FYI: Paranormal Activity Review)
The last time I heard tell, Oren Peli was directing/writing a movie project called Area 51, with Jason Blum producing (Insidious, The Reader, Paranormal Activity franchise).
Peli and Blum have both produced Insidious but this Area 51 movie, seems to be in a bit of a black hole.
The new movie Insidious is directed by James Wan (Saw franchise) and is written by Leigh Whannell (Saw franchise). Producers include Jason Blum and Oren Peli ( both from the Paranormal Activity franchise).
That’s it. That’s all I needed to see and I’m looking to where I can find this film to watch!
About Insidious
Insidious stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson and is about two parents battling evil spirits trying to possess their child as the spirits try to trap their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
Insidious is a 2010 indie film which picked up distribution at the Toronto Film Festival last year and will be seeing a national release on April 1st, 2011.
This weekend many chose to see Paranormal Activity 2 (PA2), the sequel/prequel/origins movie spawned from the first indie effort that was put together by Oren Peli. PA2 pulled in just over $41 million at the box office. I see why too. Check out my movie review of Paranormal Activity 2.
In fact PA2 set a box office record of being the highest-grossing supernatural horror flick.
Behind PA2, being a Jackass in 3D with Johnny Knoxville still pulled its weight in ass, having a $21M weekend, Red, starring Bruce Willis, a $15M weekend and the only other nationally opening movie to make the top-10 opener list was Hereafter, with Matt Damon and Cécile De Francepulled in $12M.
This Friday we have a few opening movies popping up on the radar.
Paranormal Activity 2
-
The much anticipated sequel to the pants-crapping original Paranormal Activity. The first one cost $11k to make and pulled in $183M Worldwide. The sequel cost just under $3M to make, is directed by a different person (Tod Williams), the screenplay was written by a different person (Michael R. Perry) but the characters are the ones that Oren Peli created in his first film. Paramount Pictures is distributing. We can hope!
=
Hereafter
If you survive the scare-quel of Paranormal Activity, there’s the movie with Matt Damon, called Hereafter. A movie about how different people deal with death, directed by Clint Eastwood.
Paranormal Activity 2 is coming at us with a release date of October 22nd, 2010. With it coming to theaters, they are once again pushing the “Demand It” process, where if enough people vote to see it in their town, you could get yourselves a free midnight screening. But will the “Demand It” process work again, but this time with a new movie?
Paranormal Activity 2 is directed by Tod Williams and written & produced by Oren Peli. While Oren was the original man behind the entire production of the first Paranormal Activity, Paramount Pictures brought in director Tod Williams (The Door in the Floor) for the sequel.
I don’t know if we should be worried or not about the fresh directorial blood or not. At least Katie Featherston, who plays, well, Katie, will be in the 2nd movie too.
A Paranormal Activity styled show is coming to a TV series near you… it’s titled The River and is co-created by Oren Peli & Michael R. Perry. Oren created the first Paranormal Activity and the highly praised TIFF film, Insidious. Michael is the screenwriter for the sequel to Paranormal Activity.
The River is being brought to us by Dreamworks TV and ABC Studios and will be about a search for a person who goes missing while on the Amazon river.
The filming techniques will be along the lines of how Paranormal Activity & Cloverfield were filmed. If you didn’t have the stomach for that technique, it will definitely be distracting.
It could be a fun series if done right. We’ll keep you apprised of any new news about The River when it goes to print!
Out of the Toronto International Film Festival, a few movies fond themselves some distributors.
Beautiful Boy, starring Maria Bello, Michael Sheen & Alan Tudyk was snagged by Anchor Bay Films for a pretty penny of seven figures. Check this link for more about Beautiful Boy.
Paramount is seizing the moment and creating a sequel to the scary smash hit (no pun intended) Paranormal Activity. They’ve brought on Michael R. Perry (Law & Order: SVU) to write a script, and film editor Kevin Greutert (Saw) has been brought on-board to direct.
Any of us who have seen Paranormal Activity knows that it kicks butt, and as far as I’m concerned, desperately trying to create a sequel to take advantage of this superior nerve-wracking movie just seems to be standard remake / sequel mentality.
What’s going to be funny is to compare the sequel’s performance to that of it’s predecessor which took 7 days to film, only costing $15k. On the bright side, Oren Peli, the writer and director of Paranormal Activity, is serving as a producer for the sequel and says that these guys get it and we won’t be disappointed. (Of course, I’ve never heard anyone say ‘Hey, we’re struggling here and the movie is going to make you want to rip your eyes out, but come see it anyway. Free band-aids available at each screening!’)
After all the fanfare and votes from the online world for Paranormal Activity from Oren Peli, Paramount is probably betting that while we’re still fresh in the mode of voting and thus supporting the movie, that they best git this flick to DVD / Blu-ray as fast as possible.
In fact this seems pretty fast to me but Paranormal Activity is due out in a Limited Collector’s Edition DVD.
Right now the DVD is ranked as the 209th best selling DVD in the entire TV & Movies section of Amazon. That doesn’t strike me as amazing, but it hasn’t been available for pre-order that long.
The official product description for the Collector’s DVD is:
This intense edge-of-your seat horror film follows a young suburban couple who record the sinister disturbances in their home while they sleep – even as the domestic haunting becomes more frequent, more threatening and all too personal. Hypnotic and harrowing, Paranormal Activity uniquely delivers frightful suspense punctuated by moments of sudden and unexpected terror, all the way to the shocking ending.
Featuring a version not shown in theaters with an exclusive alternate ending, Paranormal Activity is the one supernatural thriller DVD to own that plays on your most primal fears, and guarantees you’ll need to sleep with the lights on.
Includes:
- Single Disc DVD, including the unrated version with an alternate ending
- An authentic film cell from the movie, featured on a collectible trading card
- An individually numbered, limited edition t-shirt
It’s been a while since I’ve seen any kind of news on this project, but since I just had the crap scared out of me by Oren Peli’s creation, or a sequel to his creation, Paranormal Activity, I thought I’d toss this one out there… (FYI: Paranormal Activity Review)
