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.
