Last year brought the news that the Paranormal Activity franchise, previously concluded with its sixth feature film, would be returning to theaters with a brand new entry. Since then there have been few updates, but the film is officially scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 19, 2021, just over a year from now. Considering how quickly the movies in the series were previously shot and then constructed in post-production (the second, third, and fourth movies all came out in successive years), that time frame isn’t too out of the ordinary for the franchise. So where does it stand now? Will it continue its found footage motif?
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“The answer is, I don’t know. I guess we’re about to find out, but I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know,” Producer Jason Blum told Bloody Disgusting. “It’s something that we’re talking about, but I don’t know what it’s going to wind up being….We’re writing the treatment. That’s it.”
The Paranormal Activity franchise famously kick started the resurgence of “found footage” horror movies after the first film arrived in theaters in 2007 to the tune of $194 million worldwide on a budget of $15,000. Blum confirmed in the interview that the new movie wouldn’t be that cheap when it finally goes in front of cameras.
ComicBook.com previously spoke with Blumhouse favorite Christopher Landon who wrote the second, third, fourth, and fifth film in the series, which he also directed, about possibly returning. The Happy Death Day director indicated how much fun he had working on the franchise, and didn’t deny any interest in a return.
“I think the creative forces behind that franchise, I think everyone’s only interested in really doing it if it can be done well,” Landon said last year. “So it’s another one of those ‘see what happens’ kind of a thing. I really loved that franchise and I enjoyed working and being a part of that team. It was an enormous amount of fun, but it was one of those things, too, that as the franchise went on, it was diminishing returns. It was a very difficult thing to sustain and that’s the nature of franchise-building. So we’ll see what happens there. But I don’t think there’s anything crazy happening just yet.”
To Landon’s point, the franchise got a little out of hand after its humble beginnings. The first Paranormal Activity told the tale of a couple haunted by a demon and the complexities ramped up quickly in the sequels which played with time by being prequels, introducing witch covens, and even including a 3D entry. Across its six movies, the Paranormal Activity series has brought in $890 million worldwide, higher than the likes of other horror franchises like Halloween, Predator, Final Destination, and Scream.
