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Saw VI Director for Paranormal Activity 2, In Theaters October

by Alex Billington
January 18, 2010
Source: Heat Vision

This explains everything (I'll get to that below)! Heat Vision is reporting that Paramount is moving forward with a sequel to last year's record-breaking, infamous horror movie Paranormal Activity. Even though it premiered at Screamfest in 2007, Paramount didn't bring this to theaters until last September, eventually earning an impressive $108 million on a movie that only cost $15,000 to make. Well, now they've gone and done the unthinkable. Paramount has hired Saw VI director Kevin Greutert and "The Dead Zone" writer Michael R. Perry to direct and write (respectively) the sequel - titled Paranormal Activity 2. But, why?!

Paramount has already set an October 22nd release date for the sequel this year, which puts it in direct competition with the upcoming Saw VII in 3D. I truly hope this isn't a sign that they're considering turning this into a franchise and putting out a new Paranormal Activity movie every year on Halloween (to replace the dying Saw series). Oren Peli, who directed the original, and Jason Blum, who produced the original, will both return as producers, so at least they're still involved with this. "These guys get it, and the fans won't be disappointed," said Peli of this news about Greutert and Perry today. I certainly hope that's the case!

So let me explain why this all makes sense. First, it's very odd to see a major studio buy an indie film, it's usually smaller distributors that buy them (like Focus Features, Fox Searchlight). Initially I was wondering why they'd even buy this film. Well now we know - they wanted to turn it into a franchise. Remakes, sequels, there's so much potential. Another reason I knew a sequel was coming? Different endings. Peli originally shot two different endings to the movie when it premiered in 2007. But once Paramount bought it, they gave them the money to shoot a third (which is the ending you saw if you saw Paranormal last year). But why?

Spoilers! In the new ending, the girl survives and leaps at the camera in the last shot. Then it shows text that says "her whereabouts are unknown." In the other endings, the girl dies (in one she kills herself, in the other she's shot by the police). It's now obvious that Paramount was already thinking about sequels when they decided to add a third ending. That new ending not only helped them build up their "did this really happen?" marketing campaign, but it means she's still alive, and it'll probably be the same girl who appears in the sequel. Maybe she'll start killing people somewhere else. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

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32 Comments

Consider this a money ploy, expecting me saying 'Paranormal Activity 6' in 2016.....

haha on Jan 18, 2010

It was a good movie i really enjoyed it why fuck it up wif a sequel. It dosnt need one. They are just money hungry bastards. They dont care bout the movie all they see is dollar signs.

Donza on Jan 18, 2010

I saw BOTH endings DONT see a SUCCESSFUL sequel in it, AT ALL! But if they go the way of blair which 2 and make it have almost nothing to do with the first and NONE of the original actors AND of coarse make it better than BW2 then it may work Saw Series hasnt been good since number 3 i never saw anything past the fourth!

zach on Jan 18, 2010

blair witch not which..... ha sorry

zach on Jan 18, 2010

No.

CS on Jan 18, 2010

bad nooooooooooooooooooooooo dumb idea the best part about this movie is its un touched nature. let it be the one. the only one we watch. not just the original... let it be the film was pass down for generations to show how horror was done right in our generation...

sjophotography on Jan 18, 2010

"Well, now they've gone and done the unthinkable." haha really!?

wm on Jan 18, 2010

Why ruin a bad thing. I thought P.A. sucked, I think the Saw movies suck! Sounds like a match made in heaven.

St. Helens Malt Ale on Jan 18, 2010

I agree with #10 the only thing that stinks more then a pile of horse shit, is 2 piles of horse shit!

DoomCanoe on Jan 19, 2010

Money, it's ALWAYS about the money..

Robbie on Jan 19, 2010

I agree with #5. I liked Paranormal Activity a lot and I'm open to the idea of a sequel but the Saw director was a terrible choice, the Saw movies were cool when there was about two of them now its just stupid. I really hope this is not the case with PA. If they made a sequel I wouldn't mind and made it scarier but just the idea of bringing in the Saw director just ruins it for me. The torture porn thing that the Saw movies have going for it is not what PA was about. PA was all about tension and suspense not cutting peoples head off or gouging their eyes out.

David on Jan 19, 2010

paranormal activity wasn't bad - it's just that the people in it were portrayed as idiots........and it didn't help that the ending could be guessed way before the end. everyone talked about how scary the ghost/demon was in it; but, when i finally saw it.........i thought it was kind of "meh". it may not appease many of the haters on this site that dislike everything but...............if you want to see 1 scene of shocking "ghost" violence? - watch "100 feet". there is one scene in it that makes the movie worth watching.

beavis on Jan 19, 2010

Yeah...so? It wasn't that spectacular in the first place. Sure it was great for such a cheap movie but it's definitely nothing overly impressive in the ways of horror. That genre has been lacking since the early 90's, arguably the 80's. P.A. played with all the cheap jumps etc like a slasher without being a slasher. w00t.

tra la la la la di da on Jan 19, 2010

Paranormal was by far the worst movie of 2009, and I'd say worst of the decade. Laughable acting, poorly written, cheap thrills that did not thrill. Jersey Shore lead Mecah should have been decapitated in the first minute. Mind boggling how this movie made any money at all.

chrisbo on Jan 19, 2010

Paranormal Activity is the most overrated movie of 2009 and personally I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. There's no way I'm going to waste my money again on the sequel.

Cindy on Jan 19, 2010

Oren Peli is an insult to all legitimate filmmakers. His "scripts" are nothing more than outlines, and you can't even say it was well directed. It's a fucking camera mounted on a windowsill. Just wait until you see Area 51.

Fuelbot on Jan 19, 2010

BAD BAD IDEA..!!

Sakyo on Jan 19, 2010

This is some bullshit! Paranormal Activity was a bore. I don't know what was so scary about a door swinging open after five minutes of nothing. BLAH! What's going to happen in the second one? A demon messes with the alarm clock and they wake up late! "Hey did you set the alarm clock last night?" "HOLY SHIT!" No, this is a bad idea. Did we all forget about Blaire Witch already. They at least made a boring idea interesting for the time, but we already went through that, and those enough young enough to not know it, please hop of Paranormal Activities dick. I've seen scarier things in a dorm bathroom.

Jurassic Clarke on Jan 19, 2010

Please no!!! This is an amazing movie as it is, don't spoil it with sequels!!!! Greedy mofos

Victor on Jan 19, 2010

Please No, the first movie wasnt scary or even a good movie to begin with, what were people supposedly scared of? when a movie comes with the moniker Scariest movie ever, I expect to be scared by something. One of the most overrated movies of the last decade. Anyways Saw 6 was the best saw movie since 3 and if the director was that good for that movie than maybe he'll make the sequel watchable, and maybe even make it scary? what a concept.

Chase on Jan 19, 2010

don't make a sequel with the saw v1 director he will just fuck it up,remember what happened when they made a sequel to the blair witch project.both films were low budget got a bigger budget for the sequel & they turned out shit.

tobi,leader of the akatsuki on Jan 19, 2010

In my opinion I watched Paranormal Activity and thought it was a great thriller, but if their going to make a sequel, i would much rather have more demons ghosts etc, not the same person woman still being possesed. hopefully if their is a sequel it stays being shot through a live action Camera.

Kaisen on Jan 19, 2010

people who saw this in the theater got ripped off. If you liked this then im sorry you are not a film person. You can like the concept (ya it was ok) but as a feature film gimme a break. I got a few family movies that i could edit together and you could think my cousin Vitto was Satan... wait im gonna call DreamWorks now!

Bad Movie on Jan 19, 2010

at 25 i liked this film as a stand alone film and i AM a film person BTW! it surely was over hyped but after reading this all that make perfect sense now doesn't it?!?! this film should be left as a stand alone and NOT have a sequel made for it....making the third ending just for the purpose of exploiting a great indie film for the sake of a few dollars blows ass! i'm sure the sequel will fall on its face and the plans shit canned for another horror series bad bad bad idea but is anyone surprised by this news.......

thejugfather on Jan 19, 2010

Nope. I know the sequel will suck a lot. It won't be nearly as scary nor will it make the same amount of money, which is the reason for this anyway. If the reins were with the same people who made the first one, then ok i see how a sequel might work, but a huge studio doesn't know how to make a horror movie. And the Saw director won't help any. Since when has Saw been scary. I'm thinking 2003, when the first one came out. Still the film was great, but the sequel won't be.

Efrain on Jan 19, 2010

Will it be Blair witch 2 bad?

D on Jan 19, 2010

You have to ask 'why'? It's obvious. 99% of the people who go see films in the theater don't read anything at all on the internet, and the only time they see trailers is when they go see other films. The people who go to see this movie probably won't even see a trailer for it. It will say "Paranormal Activity 2", but the movie have absolutely nothing at all to do with the first film. It probably won't even be shot in the same style. But the sequel will still make money because people will go see it based solely on the name. It's been the way things work for a while, now. Why the hell do you think that remakes and sequels are all that gets made now? People might claim they want to see new, original movies, but when those new and original movies get released, no one goes to see them. Instead they're sitting a couple theaters over watching "Big Dumb Action Movie 4: Bigger and Dumber Than Ever!". Then they go home and bitch about how all the movies coming out are sequels or remakes. Well if those movies don't make money, why should the money-oriented film studios produce them? If all you're going to pay to see are the shitty blockbuster popcorn flicks, why the hell should they bother to fund anything but that? And if they DO produce one, they will rewrite the script to inject more of the same sort of shit that these big action movies have. That's how the US can take a film like "Let the right one in" and turn it into a shitty action/horror movie. You know that that's what will happen to that movie, and this one will be no exception. it'll be a shitty horror/action flick with anything else they can figure out how to exploit. Hollywood = big-budget exploitation flicks.

Squiggly_P on Jan 20, 2010

Wow its amazing seeing all the ignorance on this website. The thing I notice most about people who disliked this movie is that they are young. Im only 20 but being a film student I have a better grasp on the history of film. My generation has been attacked with quick cuts in Michael Bay movies and they just can't get past a stationary shot. The youth in this country has no taste in movies. I bet if they saw the Goodfellas tracking shot or the tracking shot on the beach is Atonement they would leave the theatre in boredom. It has been said that "three men are playing cards. There is a bomb under the table and it explodes...That is action. Then three men are playing cards and there is a bomb under the table and it doesn't explode.... That is suspense." Paranormal Activity kept that bomb hidden away and it was very suspenseful for that. I'm glad there were man people who really dug into this movie so it made so much money. But then again, if it didnt make so much money it would have been left alone and would have been a cult classic. Now they will remake it and ruin it. PS It is not the worst film of the year or decade............Southland Tales

David on Jan 24, 2010

@ David pshhhhh jog on! Most of us are 20-27 year old film students so don't think you're king of turd hill just cause you go to class dick. & Instead of stating your opinion about the movie and its sequel, you talked down to the people about there disagreement with your opinion! If that's not being Ignorant i don't know what is! worst film of the decade was Baby Geniuses 2

DoomCanoe on Jan 24, 2010

The same reason Blair Witch 2 bombed is the same reason this will bomb, the only true success was the fact that alot of people watched it without really knowing if this was a true story or not. I enjoyed Paranormal Activity, even knowing it was fiction I still enjoyed the originality, but throwing a 2 on the end is anything but original. No matter how good the plot may end up, it will be impossible to scare people the way they were in the first, therefore it will bomb no matter what. I just hope no one goes and sees it to, to make a point to the studios that this crap wont make money. To them the only bottom line is money, If people stop going to see these awful movies, eventually hollywood will get back on track! DONT GO SEE MOVIES THAT YOU DONT AGREE WITH! Or if you must see a movie that you know is imbarrassing buy a ticket to a respectable movie and slip into the other theater. HA.

Topher on Mar 8, 2010

Saw the movie and loved how they tied in the old movie with the new one, so it was more of a prequel. If you loved the first one you wont be disappointed. The new director seemed to take into account that the original fans wouldn't want something totally cliche like a 'killing spree'. The writer and directer needs a pat on the back.

ss on Oct 23, 2010

Great Movie until end, worst ending ever! Also to prove that they ARE money grubbing from the success of the first movie they included scenes in the preview that wasn't in the movie. Any movie that cuts the entire cast of the movie by killing the main characters in less than 2 minutes should not have come out of production. Some of us would call that a cop-out.

Soulgryph on Feb 12, 2011

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