Hopefully you got your Paranormal Activity fix from the spin-off, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, because even though Paranormal Activity 5 was originally set to hit theaters on October 25, 2013 and then October 24, 2014, Paramount Pictures is now gunning for an October 2015 release instead. At least that’s better than the 2016 date Paramount Pictures International teased at CineEurope last month.
On top of that, it also looks as though Millennium Films and Lionsgate might be giving the Texas Chainsaw franchise another go and possibly even nix plans to run with the cliffhanger from Texas Chainsaw 3D and go with a prequel idea instead. Hit the jump for more on both stories.
Texas Chainsaw 3D arrived on January 4, 2013 and while it did manage to win the weekend with a solid $21.7 million, it plummeted big time after that. In fact, that first $21.7 million makes up 63.3% of its total gross because it only managed to accumulate $34.3 million at the domestic box office in total. Regardless, Bloody Disgusting is now reporting that Millennium and Lionsgate are discussing bringing Leatherface back for more.
However, rather than pick up where they left off in the 2013 film, there’s an anonymous scribe in talks to pen a script about Leatherface’s “teenage years,” a scenario that would function as a sequel to the 1974 original and a prequel to the 2013 film. At this point, I don’t even care what narrative they go with, as long as it’s good, but I also can’t help but to wonder, how could this possibly be a sequel to the original? Wouldn’t that make Leatherface a child in Tobe Hooper’s film? The mythology is all screwy thanks to the slew of remakes, reboots and sequels, but this is a big stretch. If they want a movie about a teen Leatherface, why not just do a prequel to the 1974 film covering what happened prior to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and perhaps even The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, too? But, then again, if they want to adhere to what’s already been established in the Texas Chainsaw films, the movie would have to be set sometime between 1952 and 1958 because according to The Beginning, Leatherface was born on August 28, 1939.
As for Paranormal Activity 5, also via BD, the problem with that one is “cracking the story,” which makes sense considering the fourth installment didn’t even have a fraction of the ingenuity of the first three films. However, it looks like writers Jason Pagan and Andrew Stark came up with something because Paramount is reportedly fast-tracking the film to get it ready for an October 2015 debut.
Keeping it fresh will be a monumental challenge and it’s totally possible we’ll wind up with PA 4 all over again, but imagine if they pull it off. In fact, I had the opportunity to catch Pagan and Stark’s first feature, Project Almanac, at San Diego Comic-Con, and that’s exactly what they managed to do with that one. You may think it’s one of those all-too-familiar teen found footage films, but the duo delivered a fresh feeling and highly engaging scenario. Had BD’s original report been accurate with Paramount sprinting towards that planned October 2014 opening, there would have been some serious concern, but another year could be exactly what the filmmakers need to get this franchise back on track.