#New Paranormal Activity Has Wrapped, Will Reboot the Franchise – /Film

If you thought the Paranormal Activity franchise ran its course then you weren’t alone. Even mega-producer Jason Blum said it was tired and done and he built his empire on the back of the crazy profits of those uber-cheap and successful films.

So, if you’re surprised that we have another one en route after hearing Blum describe the series as “tired” you’re not crazy. But apparently, it won’t be the same old same old this time.

Collider talked with Blum and asked for a Paranormal update and boy did they get one. Not only is the new movie already shot, but it’s expected to drop this year.
So, what changed?

Well, Blum didn’t go into a ton of detail but he did say that, in order to be talked into continuing the series, he told the creative team involved to completely reboot it, noting that today’s primary audience were toddlers when the first one came out.

First of all, screw you for reminding me of my own mortality, Jason Blum. How rude. Secondly, he’s not wrong. Those movies were definitely a product of their time and it’s going to take a fresh approach to breathe any life into this series.

They have a good team on board. Will Eubank, director of the very cool Underwater, is behind the camera while Happy Death Day‘s Christopher Landon wrote the screenplay. That should boost interest just by itself, but then there’s a bigger question at hand.

Is Found Footage Dead?

Assuming Paranormal Activity is going to remain found footage, do audiences give a shit about that format anymore? They tried to reboot the top dog of all found-footage horror movies a few years back and, while I personally thought the Blair Witch rebootquel (reboot+sequel, naturally) was pretty effective, audiences didn’t show up for it.
Is found footage dead or will it see a resurgence? We did see a great found footage-ish pandemic feature called Host in 2020 and the horror community ate that one up. I suppose at the end of the day it doesn’t matter much if these movies hit big or not: they’re cheap to produce and there’s not much risk, especially since the studio is wanting it for its streaming service, Paramount+. In the world of streaming, content is king, and they loooooooove IP.

Whether or not the movie works is almost irrelevant to the money guys, but, since I’m surely going to be curious enough to check it out, I sure hope Blum is right and they find a fresh angle on this series.

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