Jason Blum Just Gave Fans The Most Amazing News About Paranormal Activity 7
Found footage horror originated with 1980's "Cannibal Holocaust," but "The Blair Witch Project" made it palatable for a wider audience. Even then, the idea of amateur productions trying to tell terrifying stories through the lens of it being "real life" was seen as little more than a gimmick. It took a while for it to form into its own subgenre of horror, and the "Paranormal Activity" series played a significant role in that.
Blumhouse made the independent film on a budget of $15,000, but it quickly became one of the most profitable films of all time based on return-on-investment. It launched a series of horror flicks and popularized the idea of found footage as something major studios promptly became invested in. "Unfriended," "As Above, So Below," "Creep," and dozens of others soon followed. However, another installment in the franchise that made the subgenre accessible hasn't come out since 2015's "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension."
Well, hang onto your hats and get ready for some jump scares because the camcorder's about to come back out sooner than you thought.
Filming on Paranormal Activity 7 is complete
You can't keep a good franchise down for long, and despite over half a decade since the last "Paranormal Activity," the machinations were always in place for more stories to occur. In fact, Jason Blum confirmed in February 2021 that "Paranormal Activity 7" was in the works. Now, we have even more information, and that sequel could be available very shortly.
Blum sat down for an interview with Collider when he was asked about the reboot, which led to this glorious response, "The movie's done. Yeah, we did it." It's a quick turnaround time, but it's par the course for the franchise. As found footage films that primarily take place in a single house, "Paranormal Activity" sequels always came out fast, which is why they would tend to come out one year after the next.
You won't have to wait too much longer to see it. In May 2021, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish stated, "New original movies like 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The In Between' will premiere on Paramount+ by the end of '21" (via The Hollywood Reporter). That's right; you'll need a Paramount+ subscription to check out the horror. Just make sure you watch it in the middle of the day with all the windows open so that you don't get too freaked out.
As if that wasn't reason enough to get excited, Blum continued, "I really encouraged all the creative people involved to think of something new. A lot of people who are going to go see the new 'Paranormal Activity' were 3 years old when the first 'Paranormal Activity' came out, so they don't even know from those older movies. I thought if you were going to re-do it, you better really re-do it, not try and expand what we did all those years ago." As far as what will be new, you'll have to check out Paramount+ at the right time to see.