Jason Blum Teases The End of ‘Paranormal Activity’
In 2007, Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity changed the landscape of horror filmmaking. It put found footage back on the map after the 1999 release of The Blair Witch Project, showcasing how low-budget movies could still pack an incredibly effective punch. It was also the film that helped launch Blumhouse’s low-budget production model. Over a decade later and with seven movies in the series, Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum is teasing the end of the franchise.
In an interview out of Locarno where Blum is receiving an award for Best Independent Producer, he told Variety, “It has been enough already. That last Paranormal Activity movie was terrible.”
The most recent Paranormal Activity movie came to Paramount+ in 2021 and was produced by Blum. It was a large departure from previous films in both location and technical style. Taking place in the snowy countryside, the film followed a woman searching for her family. It leads her and her two-man documentary crew to an Amish community. William Eubank of Underwater fame directed Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin.
Despite the renowned Paranormal Activity has brought to the production company, Blum is ready to end the franchise. He went on to tell Variety:
“With Halloween, we only had the rights to three movies, so we said: Halloween Ends! It ends for Blumhouse, at least. With other things, you just have this feeling it’s time to put them to bed. It would come back if some director I love, like Scott Derrickson, said: ‘I have a great idea for a Paranormal Activity movie. But it’s not something I want to do [at the moment].”
With the end of Blumhouse’s Halloween trilogy and its upcoming The Exorcist trilogy, it seems that Blum has set his sights on existing IP rather than new ideas for franchise building. The supposed final entry in the Paranormal Activity franchise is predicted to have a 2023 release.
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