The runaway surprise hit of the year thus far is the spook-fest Paranormal Activity, which currently sits atop the box office. The little indie that could, similar in success to The Blair Witch Project a decade ago, has become Paramount’s most profitable film of the year. It is on pace to surpass the century mark domestically ($100mm) after hammering Saw 6 this weekend at the box office. Currently sitting with more than $60mm earned, after being made on a meager budget of $11,000, Paramount is, naturally perhaps, mulling a sequel to the film.
The LA Times has a quote from Chairman Brad Grey and tells us more:
“We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do ‘Paranormal 2′ and we’re looking to see if that makes some sense,” Paramount Chairman Brad Grey said in an interview today.
In an industry obsessed with building franchises, a second “Paranormal Activity” seems like a no-brainer. The studio acquired the movie for just $300,000 and has spent less than $10 million on marketing, relying primarily on word-of-mouth and Internet buzz.
Paramount has an extra reason to make a sequel to “Paranormal Activity” beyond trying to duplicate its success: Although the studio has only domestic rights to the current film, it would have worldwide rights to a follow-up, Grey noted.
The current film stands a chance to become the most profitable one in the history of the studio. The history! It is almost a given that it will become the most profitable since 2005, when Grey took over at Par. Doing a sequel, given these circumstances, seems a slam dunk. However, back when “Blair Witch” did something similar to what “Activity” is now doing (TBWP earned $140mm domestically), the follow up to that film in 2000 earned only $26mm. Profitable, on a budget of $15mm, but not a smashing success by any stretch.
I haven’t seen, nor will I in all likelihood see (I live by myself with the possible exception of ghosts and demons), “Activity” so I am not sure that it sets up well for a sequel. However, I can’t see any good financial reason that the studio wouldn’t make one (which is not to say I would agree with it creatively, since sequels are often the bane of my film going experience these days). For those that have seen the film, let us know if you think this is a good idea, or why it would or would not work. I am curious to hear your thoughts. I still wonder if it can be scarier than The Exorcist though back in the day. Thanks to ET&B for the video heads up.
They would be wise to learn from 'Blair Witch II,' which was a conventional "Hollywood" film, no longer using handheld cameras and no longer even relating to the original, aside from the title. It would be far smarter to just devise a similar scenario to 'Paranormal Activity' and slap a '2' on the title. i don't think the film needs any company and stands alone perfectly on its own.
The thing that got people hooked on the original Blair Witch wasn't the whole movie itself but rather the ending. It left you wondering what the hell just happened. You get no explanation, it ends very abruptly and its up to you as the viewer to draw your own conclusions. The draw of the sequel before it was released was to get explanation, to get closure, but from what I heard you got none of that. Now I haven't seen PA yet, have an interest in it but probably wont get to it, so I cant speculate on the need or draw of a sequel. They could just do a sequel but put it under another name and try to make that work, who knows. It would be smart of them to keep the same style and format, don't go to a traditional fictitious film, keep the quasi-documentary style, works best for these films.
Also, hopefully this shows studios that a film with absolutely no budget, released during a "dead month" can do huge numbers with very little marketing, so the need to spend well over 300 million on a film(im looking at you spider-man 3) and maybe only make 2x as much, is not necessary. Do something original that's actually good and people will come see it.
I would leave Paranormal as a stand alone movie. Prodigal son is right. I was one of those suckers who saw Blair Witch Project 2 and it was awful. This shouldn't be made into a sequel but I knew this was going to happen. As for the first movie, it was good not great and it WAS scary. I strongly recommend it.