After doing tremendously well at the box office this year, and setting records with its first weekend release being the best opening of a horror film to date, it will come as no surprise that Paramount have announced a fourth Paranormal Activity film will be on its way this year.

The third film went straight to #1 at the US box office back in October, earning more than $50m. in its first weekend in the States from a $5m. budget, and going on to take more than $200m. at the international box office – earning more than forty times the initial investment. Forty times!

In their press release regarding their slate for the coming year,Paramountput out the following:

“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.””

Nothing concrete in terms of details about the project, including who will be writing or directing, but it’s probably safe to assume that we can expect it in October this year, and no doubt a weekend or two before Halloween, when the first three films have each been released.

The original was written and directed by Oren Peli, who served as a producer on the sequels, which were directed by Tod Williams on the second, and the directing team of Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman on the third. Given that Peli returned as a producer for the sequels, it’s not unlikely that he’ll be back to produce the fourth, but no word yet on who’ll be taking the helm or penning the script.

I must admit that I’m still yet to see any of the first three, but I’ve heard some pretty great things about them, and so I’ve got just over ten months now to play catch-up. The box office takings of the third film definitely suggest that there’s clearly still very much a market for the franchise, and if they can turn a small budget into a big return and still make something good, then why not? More news as we get it.

Thanks to Collider for the heads up.

The third film in the very popular horror franchise, Paranormal Activity 3, was released over the weekend here, in the States, and in more than two dozen other countries across the world, and it has been even better than anticipated.

In the States, Deadline report that the film has done incredibly well, taking the #1 spot at the box office, grossing more than $50m. from a $5m. budget – literally taking more than ten times its budget in a matter of three short days, which is an incredibly impressive feat.

The final tally in the North American market finished at $52.6m., and add to that the $26m. it made elsewhere, and the filmmakers are closing in on making almost sixteen times their budget in just their opening weekend – a number so high, I don’t even know the equivalent of ‘doubling’ or ‘trebling’.

As you would expect from a horror film, it has naturally been getting mixed reviews, but I’ve been hearing brilliant things about it myself, and am looking forward to seeing it in the cinema as soon as I get a chance. If you’d like a taste of what you can expect, then you can catch up on all our coverage of the film here, and it should be in your local cinemas now. Co-directed by 2010′s Catfish directors, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, with the first film’s director Oren Peli serving as a producer, and the second film’s co-writer Christopher B. Landon taking solo script duties this time, it should be a real treat.

It has also been breaking records with its debut this weekend, becoming the biggest horror opening of all time, an honour the makers will no doubt be very proud of. Though not yet official, rumours and talk of a sequel are already underway, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we can look forward to seeing Paranormal Activity 4 in a year or two’s time.

If you’ve not had enough of static infused snippets from the home movies of the two ‘stars’ of the previous two Paranormal Activity films then get ready to go crazy.

Another TV spot to tease the activity crops up on Moviefone today and there’s a few new looks at the film from the Cafish directors which should, in all reasonable sense, end the series.

As the Box Office takings have vastly overtaken the low bugets for the films, and when does good reason ever get in the way of big money.  there’s a fair chance that next Halloween will see yet more spooky goings on, perhaps in the future this time? Or in 3D?

Anyhoo, here’s the clip.

We’ve got our first chance to see what the Catfish duo have planned for the third outing of the Paranormal Activity series, and it looks like they’ve seen Ghostwatch too…

What we have here is the perfect tease – events from the first two films and the parallel spooky happenings in the separate houses of sisters Katie and Kristi are shown in between video camera footage of the two sisters when they were young, giving us our first hint of where this one is going.

The scene at the end is pretty effective (though as I pointed to earlier – Ghostwatch did it better nineteen years ago), and if this trailer is anything like those for the first two films then there’ll be hidden images aplenty in the static and single frames.

Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have their first* feature directing gig with the third Paractivity film and the original film’s director Oren Peli keeps his oar in with Producing duties.

Here’s the trailer…watch it in the night, in the dark…

Trailer Addict were the ones.

*depending on which side of the Catfish fence you fall on.

Christopher B. Landon has been hired by Paramount Pictures and producer Oren Peli to write the screenplay for Paranormal Activity 3, the third installment in the hugely successful low-budget horror franchise.

Landon was responsible for writing the werewolf romance film Blood and Chocolate, as well as contributing to the story of the 2007 thriller Disturbia. His directorial debut, Burning Palms, is set for release later this year.

Paranormal Activity 3 was announced late last year after the second installment grossed an estimated $170 million worldwide, from a mere $3 million budget.

Plot details for the third installment are not yet known, but expect more details to be revealed in the coming months.

Paranormal Activity 3 will be released on October 21.

Bloody-Disgusting reported this story.

Paramount Pictures have revealed that Paranormal Activity 3 will be released on October 21, 2011.

Oren Peli, who launched the trilogy in 2007, is set to return as producer.

Paranormal Activity 2, directed by Tod Williams, has grossed $156M at the worldwide box office, so a third installment was inevitable.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as this story develops.

Are you looking forward to seeing Paranormal Activity 3? Do you have any thoughts on the plot?

Bloody-Disgusting broke this story.

Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) has signed on to direct Eliza Graves, a film loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story.

Peli replaces Jodie Foster, who was originally in line to direct. Natalie Portman and Ian McKellan have both been mentioned in connection with roles.

Eliza Graves centers on a Harvard Medical School graduate who takes a job at an insane asylum, unaware of the fact that it has been taken over by its occupants. Joe Gangemi penned the screenplay.

Eliza Graves will be co-produced by Icon Productions and Sobini Films.

Peli’s latest directorial effort, Area 51, will be released sometime in 2011.

Variety reported this story.

The recession has hit the British film industry hard. As I type this, the UK Film Council is on a slow walk to the gallows, and the British Film Institute has had its budget slashed by 15%. The situation has become so bad that even our most successful filmmakers are forced to extraordinary lengths to get their films made. Just a few hours ago, while walking through Soho, I witnessed Stephen Frears suffocating Richard Curtis with a Waitrose carrier bag in a fight to the death for government funding.*

In the face of this cultural devastation, it’s easy to forget that Hollywood is also in the depths of a recession.

Over the last few years Hollywood has mitigated the effects of the financial downturn by making cheaper films, with fewer stars, derivative plots and, where possible, movies that are part of an existing, successful franchise.

This trend is particularly true when it comes to mid-budget horror. Previously by far the most innovative genre, and the breeding ground of some of the most interesting and creative directors who have worked in the business, it is now the home of inept remakes and artless filmmaking.

On the face of it, Paranormal Activity 2 typifies this depressing trend. The quickly-churned-out sequel to the remarkably successful Paranormal Activity was clearly shot on a shoestring**, features a cast so anonymous their own families barely recognise them, and has a plot that is the unholy lovechild of a non-consensual sexual encounter between Ghostbusters 2 and Poltergeist. In spite of this, it is, in fact, a solid, entertaining, and exceptionally well made film.

Although billed as a sequel, Paranormal Activity 2 is set before the events of the original film. This allows it to avoid getting bogged down in its own mythology, while appeasing fans of the franchise by focusing on the sister of the original film’s Katie.

As with its predecessor, the story is told using ‘found footage’ from a video camera. In this film, that footage is augmented by images from the home’s ‘security camera system’.  This allows the filmmakers to cut instantaneously between locations whilst still maintaining the original conceit. A relatively minor thing for conventional storytelling, but a massive leap forward for the Handicam Horror genre, it not only removes the need to move through the house with one character, but also makes it far more tense when we do.

Sadly that level of creativity does not extend to the film’s plot, which is essentially a tour of horror film clichés. Child in peril? Check. Teenage Ouija board use? Check. Something in the basemate? Bingo! While the film doesn’t suffer too much for this, it’s a shame that writer, Michael Peli, couldn’t have been more creative.

The film’s biggest flaw however, is in its lack of subtlety, particularly when it comes to the sound design. For some entirely inexplicable reason, director Tod Williams has chosen to preface every single scare with a low, rumbling sound. By doing this, he manages to strip any sense of foreboding or menace from other moments in the film.

For all its flaws, however, Paranormal Activity 2 is a fun film, which artfully balances scares and a sense of humour. Certainly worth a watch.

*Note to any libel lawyers/interested parties. This is a joke. It didn’t really happen. Please don’t sue me, or the site.

** Yes, it clearly cost a hell of a lot more than the first film, and wasn’t exactly a ‘low budget’ affair, but it’s still cheap in Hollywood terms.

A new TV spot for Paranormal Activity 2 has surfaced online tonight, featuring some never-before-seen footage from the much-anticipated horror sequel.

Paranormal Activity 2, this time directed by Tod Williams, is again filmed in the style of a documentary, using found footage and handheld video cameras. Plot details, however, have been kept under wraps.

Oren Peli, who directed the first, returns as producer alongside Jason Blum.

Paramount will release the film worldwide this Friday, October 22.

AceShowbiz reported this one.

Paramount have released an updated trailer for Paranormal Activity 2, the sequel to 2009′s low-budget horror sensation.

Tod Williams (The Door in the Floor) takes over directorial duties from Oren Peli, who returns as writer/producer.

If you look closely at the trailer – like MTV Movies did – you can pick out some easter eggs with clues as to what might happen in the much-anticipated sequel.

Check out the updated trailer for yourself, below:

Paranormal Activity 2 will be released on October 22.

With the Saw franchise now a Halloween tradition despite succumbing rather heavily to the law of diminishing returns it seems as if Paramount are capitalising on the roaring success of Oren Peli’s micro-budgeted Paranormal Activity by scheduling the release date for the sequel for October 22nd, 2010.

Heat Vision have the scoop and highlight the link between the Saw franchise and the new Paranormal Activity director, the man who made his debut with Saw VI, Kevin Greutert. He will team with screenwriter Michael R. Perry to create the sequel while the creative team behind the original will be on production duties.

It all seems eerily familiar to the Blair Witch Phenomenon, with the Book of Shadow sequel falling under the weight of critical and commercial expectation and though it had a few good ideas the Blair Witch association (and it was no more than this) dragged it to hell.

What I find more intriguing is Paramount’s other initiative to replicate the success of Paranormal Activity by spending $1 million dollars a year to produce a dozen or so low budget films. Will this point to the multiplex offerings of the future with fewer original big budget films appearing amidst the furious rush of sequels and remakes, and undercut by a deluge of low budget/high-expectation films with internet driven campaigns to provide free publicity and ‘on-demand’ release schedules.

Whether this will mean that we’ll get to hear more original, fresh voices in front of and behind the camera, with full studio backing and distribution is unclear. Certainly if the rebakery is churning out profitable films, why not spend a fraction of the cost of just one of these to finance and put out a dozen new films, in order to discover the next big thing?

The success of Paranormal Activity 2 may not be the legacy of the series, but the way movies are made and distributed.

Following a phenomenon cannot be easy.

When Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, the creators of Blair Witch, found themselves on the receiving end of a tsunami of plaudits they wisely chose to avoid cashing in and side stepped Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, and all but disappeared from the film industry for many years. Perhaps the bar had been set too high and they feared chasing the Hollywood lightning again, but the rumours that a third Blair Witch film is on the cards seems to bring their decade long hiatus from the woods to an end.

Not so Oren Peli, whose Paranormal Activity has won him enormous praise, as The Hollywood Reporter have tonight reported that his follow up, Area 51, has not only completed shooting but Paramount have leapt at the chance to distribute the film.

As previously reported Peli plans to use the found footage device to bring his closely guarded plot to the screen. Given the relative failure of The Fourth Kind it may be that Peli has to make the most of his faux-documentary style before the device starts to show its weaknesses.

Paramount’s release schedule is looking very strong considering their last few releases of 2009 include Jason Retiman’s Up in the Air, and the eagerly awaited adaptation of The Lovely Bones from Peter Jackson, and while the franchises of Iron Man and Shrek will make Paramount’s money in the summer months having the potential of another period of activity to rival Paranormal’s wouldn’t hurt either.

Area 51 will be released in 2010.

To follow up the Blair Witchian success of Paranormal Activity Oren Peli has chosen a similarly styled story based on and around the Area 51 legends.

Telling the story of three teenagers who stumble across a web of intrigue in the labyrinths of the US Government’s most secret facility, the film was announced recently and now there’s a little more meat on those bones.

Latino Review have seen a treatment for the film and, while not overly impressed with the similar device of ‘found footage’, they say there’s enough here to give Peli a chance to build on PA’s success.

There’s considerable spoilers but as we’ve seen so many films dealing with this subject, and as Peli has vowed to continue working with unknown actors there’s a good chance that much of the effectiveness of the film will come from the devices used to tell the story.

Click here to read more.

There has been loads of buzz regarding Paranormal Activity these past few weeks.  After a massive campaign to get the movie a wide release, the movie went national this past weekend.  I have been following this for quite a while hoping and praying that my town would be one of the lucky ones to get it.  Thankfully, it did. 

Growing up, I have been exposed to my fair share of horror films.  I’m always on the lookout for that ONE movie.  The one that is going to scare me senseless and make me sleep with the lights on.  After I saw the previews and read the feedback that was being posted on Twitter, I thought this might be the one to do just that.

Paranormal Activity follows Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as they document strange disturbances that are going on in their house.  After Katie starts to experience a presence in the house, her boyfriend Micah, buys a video camera to record 24 hours a day.  Things go downhill from there.  Needless to say, there is something definitely not right going on in that house.

I’m going to stop there because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.  Paranormal Activity is being compared to The Blair Witch Project, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The movie is filmed in the same way, using the hand held camera aspect.  If you had a problem watching Blair Witch or Cloverfield for that matter, you may have trouble with this one as well.  A good portion of the film is a scary version of late night drunk cam.  The rest of the film, the camera is either positioned on a tri-pod or it’s just sitting on a counter. 

The film also begins by making it seem as if it’s based on actual events.  The marketing campaign isn’t quite what was rolled out for Blair Witch, but for someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of this film they may possibly think it is indeed a true story.  The way it was filmed adds to that aspect as well as the fear that you see and feel from the actors.

Shooting on a shoestring budget in his own home, Oren Peli does a great job of bringing the scare.  He understands that what you can’t see is scarier than what you can see.  The anticipation and suspense are tangible and even the smallest things, like someone just standing still, is enough to make you squirm.

I also have to give props to Featherston and Sloat.  If you didn’t know any better you would think they were an actual couple and were really going through this horrible ordeal.  The fear, panic, anger and frustration are all conveyed with realism and their performances are authentic.  I simultaneously felt awful for what Katie was going through, while also wanting to give Micah a good ole fashioned beat down.

Like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity may not get to you in the theater, but it will creep up on you later.  As you’re laying in bed your mind inevitably wanders to a scene in the film that sends you to the edge of panic while you try your hardest to think of good things like cupcakes and puppies and rainbows.  Then you think you hear something or feel something brush by you and you’re in the throes of panic again.  One of my friends that I saw this movie with slept with all the lights on that night…..and we went to the an early afternoon showing.

Surprisingly this film has been around for a couple of years, but is just now finding it’s glory.  Total Film did a great feature on the story behind the movie and how it came to be.  The final page of the article talks about the ending so consider yourself warned if you haven’t seen it yet.  If you’re interested in checking out feedback from other movie goers, check out the Twitter feed that has been running almost non-stop.  You are encouraged to tweet your reaction to the film to @TweetYourScream.  Reading the different responses has been interesting and has helped build buzz so be sure to check it out.

To wrap it up, I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity.  I was able to sleep but it took effort to get it out of my head before I crawled into my bed for the night.  Like I said at the beginning of this post, I have been longing for a film to scare me, and while it didn’t scare me senseless, it definitely delivered.  The feedback I’ve read is that the best environment to experience this film is in a full theater.  Unfortunately when I saw it, the theater was somewhat empty.  The gasps we heard were mostly coming from me….I’ll admit it. 

If you like a good horror movie…especially at this time of year, then I would highly recommend Paranormal Activity.  Hopefully you’ll get the scare you’re after and you may also just walk out with a new found respect for ouija boards and things that go bump in the night.