Akiva Goldsman has been a writer for such hits as Batman Forever, Batman and Robin and Lost in Space, but also I am Legend, and the DaVinci Code films and has directed some TV (Fringe and Kings) but if things go well for him his first feature film could be Paranormal Activity 2.
Last month, the L.A. Times reported a number of directors were circling around the sequel to last year’s horror hit. Greg McLean (Rogue), Brad Anderson, Goldsman and Brian De Palma were all names thrown in the pot. But Goldsman, we’re told, is the frontrunner right now.
Frankly, I don’t know that it matters who directs Paranormal Activity 2.
Its the Blair Witch all over again. Paranormal Activity was a hit because there was far more than a film in its buzz. There was the marketing, the reviews, the bigger word of mouth phenom this film became, and in that was the excitement and the terror in the movie.
But do they really need a sequel? How are they going to pitch that? Remember that film that looked so genuine and almost like a documentary that scared you 3 pounds lighter? Cool huh? It was that it looked so real and that it could have actually happened that made it so scary!! Well Hollywood is going to produce and manufacture a sequel trying to recreate the unanticipated success the first film got!
Awesome. Marketing genius. They are trying to make lightning strike the same spot again.
Maybe they will make something worthwhile and surprise me, but when a movie gets this big almost by accident, sequeling it always sounds like a bad idea.
A SEQUEL!? No. Please no. This turned out to be gold, even though looking back it was cheesy, still a sequel would be awful.
I dont understand what these people are thinking? I loved the first movie. It seriously scared the ba-jesus out of me because i believe in the paranormal, and it was amazing and unique in such a way it made people want to see it because nobody has made a movie like this for a while. But a sequel? Like some of you have been saying, how are they going to go about this? I could see if the house itself were haunted then they could have paranormal investigators investigate but the events circled around the main girl Katie. I loved this movie and in that light, im going to give the sequel a chance…..but a small one at that.
If ever there was a movie that didn’t need a sequel then it’s this one. It was a cool, spooky indie flick, which was refreshing when you think of all the in your face horror we get these days. I don’t think it’s something you can recreate. As it is the changed theatrical ending was a disappointment compared to the original.
Chances are, the sequel will do just as good or better. Only because a lot of people might have been upset to miss the first one out and don’t want to miss the opportunity again. Also, a lot of the people that saw the first one, and liked it, are probably going to go see this one and it comes out around Halloween, when a lot of people want to get scared. The problem will arise when they come out with a third, and a forth, and a fifth. That is when no one will care anymore.
Tell that to the Blair Witch Sequel.
haha, you got me there. Wasn’t Blair Witch 2 based off “true events”. So I guess when you actually have a true story, you make a studio movie for it.
I’d say the safest route for them to go with a sequel, would have it be a sequel in name and style only. Like have it shot the same way, via POV hand-held video camera kind of kind, but have it deal with a completely-separate situation not related tot he first at all. It could follow a team of investigators, much like Ghost Hunters or the Supernatural-version Ghostfacers lol, as they investigate a haunted location, maybe a castle or something so they can get some creepy gothic structures and locations on-screen to add to the atmosphere, and the spirit or spirits turn violent on them or something.
Just an idea, but IMO, something like that is the only way this has any hope at all at being successful. If they try to tie it into the first directly, it runs the risk of making it all feel so much more unrealistic, and thus, it will suck. If they try to do a complete game-changer then it runs the risk of being the next Blair Witch 2 and thus also suck. But again, that’s just what I think.