It started with a vision. In 2009, Oren Peli’s micro-budget horror flick Paranormal Activity took everyone by surprise with its smart filmmaking and genuinely terrifying spin on the old haunted house formula. Fast forward to 2017 and the horror IP stands as one of cinema’s franchise juggernauts, breaking through enough box office records to cement its place in the history books.
But after such a decorated run on the silver screen, dolling out enough nightmare fuel for a generation, the release of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension back in 2015 marked the end of the franchise’s tenure. Or so we thought. I mean, come on, did anyone really think that a property as lucrative as this would just sit on the shelf for good? This is Hollywood, after all, and in Hollywood, money talks. So, it’s no surprise to hear that producer Jason Blum is interested in rebooting the series.
What is surprising, however, is that this comes so soon after he said it was time to retire it. If you recall, just a few years ago, when The Ghost Dimension premiered, the Blumhouse Productions head honcho said the following:
It felt like we posed a lot of questions and I was tired of doing that. There was a fatigue in the audience that was like, “Stop teasing us, we want answers.” It’s hard to give answers and keep going so it felt like a natural time to wrap it up. Most horror franchises, they just stop when the last one doesn’t make any money.
That’s just sad and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the whole series. I really didn’t want to do that with this. Paramount was very agreeable to that notion. They came to the same conclusion themselves so we really are agreed about it. It’ll give Paranormal Activity a better cultural impact without grinding it into the ground.
Now, however, he seems to have changed his tune. In an interview that him and Christopher Landon recently did with Cinepop to promote Happy Death Day, Blum seemed pretty into the idea of making a Paranormal Activity reboot, saying:
“Paranormal Activity is on hiatus, but if Chris over here, who’s done four Paranormal Activity movies – if he has an idea to reboot it, we’re very open to hearing it.”
Of course, that’s hardly confirmation that this will 100% happen, but again, the franchise is simply too much of a cash cow to leave it on the shelf for too long. Granted, the later installments weren’t quite as profitable as the first few, but that’s to be expected and you can bet that there would still be an audience for this. After all, Paranormal Activity was quite a phenomenon back in the day, gathering a massive fanbase and a lot of praise.
While we wait to see if anything actually materializes here, tell us, do you think the franchise is in need of a reboot? Or have you had enough for now? Take to the comments section and give us your thoughts!