Paranormal Activity

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Filmmakers to Make Latino-Centric Horror Offshoot at Paramount

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: April 6th, 2012 at 5:40 pm

With the horror-franchise Paranormal Activity going strong (the three movies released so far have brought in an excess of half-a-billion dollars) and recent religious horror films doing well in the box office (The Devil Inside), the Paranormal Activity folks are turning their attention to a film that explores Catholic-based paranormal mythology. The twist on this offshoot is that they’re targeting the Latino community, an increasingly important market for movie studios. While the horror flick will feature a Latino cast, the film will not be in Spanish. Paranormal Activity producers Jason Blum and Oren Peli will reunite with writer Christopher Landon, who will write and direct the project for Paramount.  Hit the jump for more info.

THE RIVER Producer Set to Write PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 15th, 2012 at 1:31 pm

With a release date merely seven months away, producers felt it might be beneficial to have someone write the script for Paranormal Activity 4. Heat Vision reports that Zack Estrin has closed a deal to write the fourth installment of the lucrative found footage franchise. Estrin seems an obvious choice, as he currently serves as a writer-executive producer on the ABC series The River, which is also executive produced by Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum and the franchise creator Oren Peli. Estrin also worked on Fox’s Prison Break and ABC’s No Ordinary Family. Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are expected to return for the fourth installment, but plot details are being kept under wraps (though I assume it’ll be “scary”).

Paranormal Activity 3 was written by Disturbia scribe Christopher Landon, who also worked on the second film (the first film was written by Peli). Though Estrin has no experience with the franchise, The River is a found footage television series so he has experience writing camera movements and jump scares.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Blu-ray Review

by Rob Vaux    Posted: February 24th, 2012 at 5:12 am

Sometimes, a spookhouse is just a spookhouse. Creators of those Halloween haunted houses that spring up every year sometimes try to attach a story or characters to them, but that’s not the purpose of their existence. They’re here to give us some old-fashioned jolts: the kind that come when a guy in a mask leaps out of the shadows shrieking like a loon. We jump, we cry out, and we giggle at the relived realization that nothing bad actually happened. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Paranormal Activity movies exist as unfiltered embodiments of that ethos. Just as certain comedies can be gauged solely on how often they make us laugh, so too does this found-footage horror series live and die by the amount of popcorn flung reflexively in the air. The first film raised that equation to near-art. The second tried to regurgitate rather than recreate and suffered accordingly. Now comes Paranormal Activity 3, a film that more or less rights the ship even as it extends the dubious premise of ongoing (and unnecessary) sequels. Hit the jump for my full review.

Oren Peli Talks THE RIVER; Premieres Tonight on ABC

by Christina Radish    Posted: February 7th, 2012 at 9:36 am

ABC’s intensely scary paranormal thriller The River follows the story of world famous wildlife expert and TV personality Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood), host of the beloved series “The Undiscovered Country.” After Cole goes missing deep in the Amazon, his wife, Tess (Leslie Hope), and estranged son, Lincoln (Joe Anderson), decide to lead a rescue mission deep into the unexplored reaches of the Amazon River, where nature is cruel, magic is real and nothing is what it seems.

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, executive producer Oren Peli (creator of Paranormal Activity) talked about how he ended up developing an idea for a TV show, the extent of Steven Spielberg’s involvement, the challenges of telling a season’s worth of story in only eight episodes, doing the episodes with a scare-of-the-week while also advancing the overall mystery, trying to create moments where you don’t know what’s going to happen because it’s the unexpected that’s scary, and that even though no one is safe, characters won’t be killed off just for the sake of killing them off. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Weekend Box Office – CHRONICLE and THE WOMAN IN BLACK Both Break $20 Million on Super Bowl Weekend

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: February 5th, 2012 at 9:31 am

It didn’t claim the record for highest debut or the greatest attendance, but this year’s Super Bowl weekend still caught most box office watchers by surprise with two bigger-than-expected openings. Fox’s Chronicle was first with $22 million from 2,907 locations, but CBS Films’ The Woman in Black was right on its heels with $21 million from 2,855. That’s the first time that two titles have opened to over $20 million on a Super Bowl frame since… ever.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Chronicle	$22,000,000	$22
2	The Woman in Black	$21,000,000	$21
3	The Grey	$9,500,000	$34.7
4	Big Miracle	$8,480,000	$8.5
5	Underworld Awakening	$5,600,000	$54.3
6	One For The Money	$5,250,000	$19.6
7	Red Tails	$5,000,000	$41.3
8	The Descendants	$4,600,000	$65.5
9	Man on a Ledge	$4,460,000	$14.7
10	Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close	$3,925,000	$26.7

20 Things to Know About PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and the Franchise From Our Afternoon Tea with Oren Peli and the Cast

by Hunter Daniels    Posted: February 1st, 2012 at 4:57 pm

There is a lot Paranormal Activity grand maestro Oren Peli won’t talk about. He won’t talk about his long delayed Area 51. He won’t talk about any hypothetical projects or anyone he wants to work with in the future. He won’t give any specifics on his new TV series, The River. And he professes that he has no idea what Paranormal Activity 4 will look like. With this in mind, it is no great shock to announce that a recent afternoon tea with Peli, as well as Christopher Nicholas Smith, Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown (all of Paranormal Activity 3) and Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston (stars of the original film) revealed no great secrets about the franchise’s future. Rather, much like the films themselves, it was an afternoon of looking back and filling in the holes and unanswered questions about what came before.

The players told us about the difficulty of faking amateur camerawork, why Steven Spielberg turned off the original film halfway through, how the production allows for scene ideas from literally everyone, where the original concept for Paranormal Activity 2 came from and much, much more. Read on for the top 20 things to know about our afternoon tea with the cast and crew of Paranormal Activity.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman Return to Helm PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 5th, 2012 at 10:26 am

There’s not a moment to waste in churning out another Paranormal Activity movie.  Who knows when you’ll be able to find a free Saturday afternoon to make it?  Yesterday, we reported that Paramount would release Paranormal Activity 4 on October 19th.  Today, Bloody Disgusting reports that the studio has re-hired Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman to helm the next installment of Ghosts n’ Camcorders.  PA3 had the highest worldwide gross of the trilogy ($203 million) and came $4 million short of topping the original’s domestic box office take of $107 million.  All of these movies cost the spare change found in the producers’ sofas.

Paranormal Activity 4 Set for Release on October 19

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 4th, 2012 at 3:15 pm

Despite lacking an official script, director, or cast, Paranormal Activity 4 is set to open in theaters a mere nine months from now. We first learned that Paramount was planning to release a new entry in the ever-popular franchise this year a few days ago, and today the studio is quick to announce that an official release date has been set for October 19th (per THR). The quick turnaround shouldn’t be a problem for the studio though, as last October’s Paranormal Activity 3 was made for just $5 million and didn’t begin production until June. The series is quickly becoming the new Saw, and Paramount is surely very happy with the small budget/big box office model that’s been working so far.

On the 19th the pic will go up against the star-studded period crime thriller Gangster Squad (Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Ryan Gosling) and the similarly star-studded romantic comedy The Big Wedding (Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigel, and Robin Williams). The following weekend PA4 will face some horror competition from Halloween 3D, while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D opens earlier that month.

Paramount Will Release PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 This Year

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 2nd, 2012 at 11:09 am

Paramount sent out a press release today about their plans for 2012, and to the surprise of no one, the studio plans to release Paranormal Activity 4 this year.  No details about the sequel have been revealed nor do we know who will direct, write, star, or how many afternoons it will take to shoot.  The franchise has been ridiculously successful for the studio, and the most recent film grossed $202 million worldwide off a reported $5 million budget.  The people have spoken and the people like night vision ghosts.  Here’s the quote from the press release:

In 2012, Paramount’s release slate highlights include “World War Z,” a zombie thriller starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster , “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” the next installment in the global franchise starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Channing Tatum , a new chapter in the “Paranormal Activity” franchise, and “The Dictator,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen and directed by Larry Charles , the team behind “Borat.”

No release date has been announced for Paranormal Activity 4, but since the last two movies were released in late October, we can safely expect to see the movie in the same time frame.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Relive All Three PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Movies for the Price of One; Friday, October 28th in Select Cities

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: October 27th, 2011 at 4:02 pm

What better time is there to see a scary movie than Halloween weekend? And what better horror franchise to relive than Paranormal Activity? For the price of admission to see Paranormal Activity 3, the current installment in theaters, you can see all three films in their chronological order. (That’s 3,1,2 for those of you who are confused as me.)

The franchise has dulled the blades of SAW in recent years, topping the October box office with each new installment. Now, Paramount Pictures and Regal Cinemas are bringing the whole Paranormal Activity family back to the screen in select cities. Hit the jump to see if the found-footage phenomenon is in your town this weekend.

Weekend Box Office – PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Claims October Opening Record with $54 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: October 23rd, 2011 at 10:06 am

Earlier this week, it seemed like Paranormal Activity 3 was looking at an opening weekend in the $35-$40 million range, or just slightly less than what its predecessor took in on this week last year.  Instead, the three-quel has crushed all projections with an estimated take of $54 million from 3,321 locations.  At this point that stands as the highest October debut and the biggest supernatural horror opening of all-time, unseating 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2, of course.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Paranormal Activity 3	$54,000,000	$54
2	Real Steel	$11,300,000	$67.2
3	Footloose	$10,900,000	$30.9
4	The Three Musketeers	$8,800,000	$8.8
5	Ides of March	$4,900,000	$29.1
6	Dolphin Tale	$4,500,000	$64.6
7	Moneyball	$4,100,000	$63.7
8	Johnny English	$3,800,000	$3.8
9	The Thing	$3,100,000	$14
10	50/50	$2,800,000	$28.7

New Trailer for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3; Cities Can Tweet to See the Film Before it Opens

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 28th, 2011 at 2:41 pm

A new trailer for Paranormal Activity 3 has been released, and it looks as though all hell breaks loose. The third entry in the franchise is a prequel to the first two films, and attempts to connect everything together as it shows protagonist Katie’s younger years. This trailer seems to reveal a good chunk of the movie to audiences, and the gags seem much more overt and fake than the sinister and understated ones of the first film. It also looks like a lot of this film takes place during the daytime, which is not scary because everyone knows that creepy things only throw people around at nighttime.

Additionally, Paramount is trying to recapture the “demand the film” craze that made the first film such a big hit in theaters. This time, the film will open in 20 cities on October 18^th, three days before it opens nationwide. The winning cities will be chosen by the 20 cities that have the most tweets. Hit the jump to watch the trailer and for more details on the “Tweet to See It First” campaign. Paranormal Activity 3 opens everywhere October 21st.

New Posters for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and DIRTY GIRL

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 20th, 2011 at 2:47 pm

New posters have gone online for the low-budget horror sequel Paranormal Activity 3 and the indie flick Dirty Girl.  The Paranormal Activity posters continue to be terrible as the studio just takes a shot from the film, puts it on a black background, and slaps on a title.  Oh, but this one has the taglines “Discover how the activity began,” (answer: with a brilliant marketing campaign), and “It runs in the family,” which only means something if you’ve seen the previous two films.  But I suppose people know at this point whether they’re on board with this franchise or not.

There’s also a new poster for Dirty Girl.  The film was picked up by The Weinstein Company at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival but has reportedly been re-edited for the theatrical release.  Dirty Girl stars Juno Temple as a girl who runs away with her classmate (Jeremy Dozier) who runs away to Los Angeles to find her biological father.  Hit the jump to check out both posters.  Paranormal Activity opens October 21st.  Dirty Girl opens October 7th.

First Trailer for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

by Jason Barr    Posted: July 21st, 2011 at 9:28 am

The first trailer for the found footage horror pic Paranormal Activity 3 has gone online. Directed this time around by Catfish helmers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the film is set in the 1980s and promises to help audiences “discover the secret to the activity.” I too would like to learn how to turn $15,000 into more than $100 million so hopefully this entry will help achieve that end. Otherwise, the film looks to be an origin story that focuses on protagonist Katie’s younger years and the weird happenings that were referenced in the original. If this turns out to be the case, I can’t say I’m overly enthused about seeing it.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. Paranormal Activity 3 hits theaters this fall on October 21st.

Weekend Box Office – HOP Has 2011′s Best Debut with $38.1 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: April 3rd, 2011 at 9:58 am

Universal’s Hop has just earned 2011’s highest debut weekend – if today’s estimate of $38.1 million from 3,579 locations proves accurate. For now the three-day estimate for the live-action/CGI-animated comedy stands less than one million ahead of Rango’s record from five weeks back.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Hop	$38,100,000	$38.1
2	Source Code	$15,000,000	$15
3	Insidious	$13,500,000	$13.5
4	Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2	$10,200,000	$38.3
5	Limitless	$9,400,000	$55.6
6	The Lincoln Lawyer	$7,050,000	$39.6
7	Sucker Punch	$6,085,000	$29.8
8	Rango	$7,560,000	$113.7
9	Paul	$4,335,000	$31.9
10	Battle: Los Angeles	$3,500,000	$78.4

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