Paranormal Activity 7 Brings Back Big Name To Franchise
Blumhouse has tapped a Paranormal Activity veteran to pull fans out of the ghost dimension for another round of shaky-camera scares.
It was first reported less than a year ago that horror juggernaut Jason Blum and Paramount were re-teaming for another terrifying chapter in the popular low-budget franchise. Now the producer has revealed one of the creatives slated to craft the latest tale of demonic haunting and possession. As part of an interview covering The Invisible Man with movie podcast The Evolution of Horror (via SlashFilm), Blum shared that a familiar face would be returning to work on the upcoming installment, which is currently set to hit theaters on March 19, 2021. That "face" is Christopher Landon, who diehards know scripted Paranormal Activity 2 through 5, and who pulled double duty as director on the fifth film.
"We are doing a new Paranormal Activity," Blum told Evolution of Horror host Mike Muncer. "We have Chris Landon, who wrote almost all of them, he directed one of them, he's really kind of the showrunner of the Paranormal Activity series, and he's coming up with Paranormal Activity 7."
During the exchange, Blum also took time to clarify that while they are currently referring to the project as Paranormal Activity 7, the movie's official title still has yet to be decided. That's not the only unconfirmed detail about the film, either. Despite its release being just a year and a half away, little is currently known about the plot, the cast, or the film's creative team, including who will direct.
While knowing these details is as exciting for fans as it is necessary for promotion, the plot for the seventh movie is of particular interest because the sixth film, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, was supposedly the franchise's last chapter.
Chirstopher Landon further clarified his role in Paranormal Activity 7
Blum's announcement about Landon's return to the faux found-footage subgenre through an unexpected seventh Paranormal Activity got people excited. But the producer's news was vague about what role the long-time Blumhouse creative would play, leaving room for people to jump to conclusions about whether Landon would be penning the script or sitting in the director's chair.
Those assumptions apparently worked up enough buzz that the Disturbia writer and Happy Death Day director felt a need to set the record straight. Following Blum's statements, Landon took to social media to clarify his level of involvement on the upcoming movie, writing that he would not be taking on either of the roles he had for past Paranormal Activity films.
"I wanted to clarify something about my involvement in the new Paranormal Activity movie," Landon tweeted. "I am helping my friends and co-collaborators at Paramount set a new course for the franchise. I AM NOT writing the script nor am I directing the new movie."
While that news might disappoint some fans of Landon's work on the horror franchise that put Blumhouse on the map, it also teases a potential shift in the Paranormal Activity universe. Setting "a new course" could mean a lot of things — from the way a film is shot to who it focuses or even the source of its scares — and may be an answer to reviving a franchise that had, by the release of its sixth film, garnered mixed reviews at best.
With so little confirmed beyond Chris Landon's involvement, anything about the film is speculation at this point. But however Paranormal Activity 7 unfolds, we now know Landon will be guiding it and still free to do that Happy Death Day 2U sequel we're all clamoring for.