Not that there was much doubt about it, Paranormal Activity 5 has been confirmed for October 2013. This will be the fourth installment of the series to bow in the month which has been very kind to the franchise in recent years as evidenced by its three $30+ million opening weekends. The series may be coming off its worst debut since round one in 2009 with a mere $30.2 million, but at a cost of $5 million per outing there was virtually no question that PA 5 would indeed be happening for release around the same time next year.
There is some actual news though in today’s announcement by Paramount’s President of Distribution Megan Colligan via THR. A franchise spin-off is planned for an early 2013 release and will target the Hispanic demographic. Those of you who witnessed Paranormal Activity 4 in theaters were privy to a teaser at the end, suggesting this was something in the works.
In regards to the strength of this property, do not worry about oversaturating too much because Paramount is well aware that this was not a typical October in terms of competition. They had to go to war with the well-received Sinister in the horror genre and try to milk a box office that just spent a boatload of cash on Taken 2. Other well-performing options existed as well suggesting this might actually be a hiccup and not the realization that Paranormal Activity is a pile of garbage like many theater goers believe.
That said, we will look very closely at the performance of this unspecified spin-off when it releases as well as that belonging to Paranormal Activity 5 which will also hit theaters in 2013.
Update: Disturbia screenwriter Christopher Landon has been set to direct the Latino-branded spin-off. Deadline is credited with that find as they go on to quote an insider as saying, “This will be an off-shoot aimed at the groups who have been the biggest supporters of the property – Latinos and folks in Latin America – Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.” It is worth noting that the scribe does have a directing credit on his resume in the form on 2010′s comic thriller Burning Palms which received horrendous reviews from both critics and audiences. Further information specifies the cast will primarily be Latino and will only film partly in Spanish.
To weigh in on this, I would suggest that Paramount saw Open Road’s success with the found-footage film End of Watch before deciding to do this. The R-rated cop drama featured a lot of Hispanic-heavy content which will likely be the best way to compare the mixture the studio aims to achieve. Of course, everything else fails to line up as End of Watch had a fabulous director in Training Day’s David Ayer coupled with some star power in Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick. The film also received stellar reviews, fueling a box office gross of $37.9 million on a $7 million budget.
I read about this earlier. A spin off series seems a bit much. In fact making a fifth one seems a bit much to me. I like the old movies better around Halloween.