Paranormal Activity (film series)

Paranormal Activity
Theatrical release poster for the first film.
Directed by	Oren Peli (PA1) Kip Williams (PA2) Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (PA3 and 4) Christopher B. Landon (PA: TMO) Gregory Plotkin (PA: TGD)
Produced by	Oren Peli (PA1-present) Jason Blum (PA1-present) Akiva Goldsman (PA2 and 3) Steven Schneider (PA1, 3 and 4)
Written by	Oren Peli (PA1) Michael R. Perry (PA2) Christopher B. Landon (PA2, 3, 4 and TMO) Tom Pabst (PA2) Jason Pagan and Andrew Stark (PA: TGD)
Production company	Blumhouse Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	2009–present
Running time	444 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18.015 million
Box office	$811.6 million

Paranormal Activity is an American supernatural horror film series, currently consisting of five films. Created by Oren Peli, the original film was widely released in 2009.

The films are based around a family haunted by a demonic entity, that stalks, terrifies and ultimately murders several members of the family, and other bystanders, during the course of the films. The series makes use of camcorders, security cameras and other recording devices, presenting the films as found footage, and is widely regarded as popularizing the genre. The series has received mixed reviews, with the first and third films receiving generally positive critical reception, while the second and spin-off (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) films received more lukewarm receptions and the fourth received mostly negative reception. The series is a strong financial success, making strong profits based on return on investment. The series as a whole has earned over 40 times the overall budget.

Development

First-time director Oren Peli had been afraid of ghosts his whole life, even fearing the comedy film Ghostbusters, but intended to channel that fear into something positive and productive. Peli took a year to prepare his own house for shooting, going so far as to repaint the walls, add furniture, put in a carpet, and build a stairwell. In this time, he also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and demonology, stating, "We wanted to be as truthful as we could be." The reason for making the supernatural entity in the story a demon was a result of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being "demons". The phenomena in the film take place largely at night—the vulnerability of being asleep, Peli reasoned, taps into a human being's most primal fear, stating, "If something is lurking in your home there's not much you can do about it." Attempting to focus on believability rather than action and gore, Peli chose to shoot the picture with a home video camera. In deciding on a more raw and stationary format (the camera was almost always sitting on a tripod or something else) and eliminating the need for a camera crew, a "higher degree of plausibility" was created for the audience as they were "more invested in the story and the characters". Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" used in the making of The Blair Witch Project. In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and later called them back to audition together. Peli was impressed with the chemistry between the actors, saying, "If you saw the footage, you would've thought they had known each other for years." During a guest appearance on The Jay Leno Show on November 3, 2009, Sloat and Featherston explained they each saw the casting call on LACasting. Featherston noted they were originally paid $500 for their work. The film was shot out of sequence due to Peli's self-imposed seven day shooting schedule, though Peli would have preferred the story unfold for the actors as he had envisioned it. Sloat, who controlled the camera for a good deal of the film, was a former cameraman at his university's TV station. "It was a very intense week", Peli recalled, stating that the film would be shot day and night, edited at the same time, and would have the visual effects applied to it as the acting footage was being finalized.

Paramount and DreamWorks hired screenwriter Michael R. Perry to create Paranormal Activity 2. Oren Peli, the director of the first film, served as a producer for this prequel. Kevin Greutert, director of Saw VI, was initially hired to direct the prequel; however, Lions Gate Entertainment exercised a clause in Greutert's contract to have him direct the final film in the Saw film series. Both of the actors from the first film, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, reprise their roles in the prequel. Kip Williams directed Paranormal Activity 2, which started production in May 2010 and was released in October the same year.

Paranormal Activity 3 and 4 were directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, documentary filmmakers who were well known for their feature debut Catfish. Production on the third entry began in June, 2011, with a release October 21 of the same year. Filming for the fourth film commenced in June, 2012, with a release of October 19.

A Latin American-themed spin-off film, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was released on January 3, 2014. Oren Peli, the creator of the franchise, returned to produce the spin-off. Christopher B. Landon, a screenwriter who had worked on the prior three entries in the series served as the writer and director.

A fifth film in the series, Paranormal Activity 5, is set to be released on October 23, 2015.^[1] In November 2012, it was announced that the film would be released on October 25, 2013.^[2] However, in August 2013, the release date was pushed back to October 24, 2014.^[3] On September 17, 2014, it was confirmed that the title would be Paranormal Activity 5: The Ghost Dimension, and it was slated for release on March 27, 2015.^[4] In January 2015, the release date was confirmed for October 23, 2015.^[1] In September 2013, it was confirmed that Gregory Plotkin, a film editor who has edited every release in the series since Paranormal Activity 2, will make his directorial debut with the fifth film.^[5][6] Oren Peli, the creator of the franchise, and Jason Blum will return to produce the fifth film, and Katie Featherston will reprise her role as Katie. In late September 2013, Paramount hired Almanac writers Jason Pagan and Andrew Stark to write the screenplay.^[7]

Films

Paranormal Activity (2009)

A young couple, Katie and Micah are terrorized by a demon that Katie believes has been following her all her life. The film is designed to look like a found footage-styled film with Micah filming the activity in their household.

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

Several weeks before the events of the first film, Katie's sister, Kristi Rey, and her family experiences strange activity after her baby son, Hunter, is born. The film uses security cameras and a hand-held camera used in some scenes to film the activity in the house.

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

The film, set in 1988, focuses on a younger Katie and Kristi as they encounter "Toby" the demon for the first time. Their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis, get concerned, so he sets up a few cameras around the house; one of which is put on a device that moves the camera back and forth, the film also uses a hand-held camera.

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

The film takes place after Paranormal Activity 2 and follows Alex and her family, who begin to experience hauntings concerning her brother Wyatt, after Katie and her mysterious son move in across the street. Alex films the activity via MacBook webcams, Video camera, iPhone camera and Kinect technology.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)

The fifth installment in the franchise was originally slated for October 2013, and then delayed to October 2014. In June 2014, the film was rumored to have been delayed to 2016.^[8] On September 17, 2014, it was announced the movie will be titled Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, and slated to be released on March 13, 2015.^[4] On January 27, 2015, the release date was changed again to October 23, 2015.^[1] The film is set to feature Katie Featherston, the only actress to appear in all five installments.^[9] The film will be directed by Gregory Plotkin, editor of the past four Paranormal Activity films.^[5][10]

The film will follow supernatural occurrences that take place in a newly moved family's home. The family consists of four members including Ryan, a game developer, Ryan's wife Emily, a housewife described as "more serious than her young husband—she's constantly on the go, does yoga, and though loving, has an air of maturity about her", their 6-year old daughter Leila, described as "a fearless, opinionated tomboy", and Ryan's younger brother described as a "less fitter, less funkier version of his brother".^[11][12]

Future

Christopher B. Landon confirmed that there is an end-game planned, and that it would take a few more movies to complete the Paranormal Activity story.^[13]

Spin-off film

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)

The film takes place after the events of Paranormal Activity 4 and follows a Latino community in Oxnard, California, where a group of high school graduates deal with the demon of a mysterious cult who have "marked" one of them. They document their experiences using basic tools of recording and with clues from the previous films try to understand what is happening to them.

Cast

Character	Film
	Paranormal Activity (2009)	Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)	Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)	Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)	Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)	Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
Katie	Katie Featherston		Chloe Csengery (young) Katie Featherston (adult)	Katie Featherston	Chloe Csengery (young) Katie Featherston (adult)	Katie Featherston
Micah	Micah Sloat				Micah Sloat	(unknown)
Dr. Fredrichs	Mark Fredrichs
Amber	Amber Armstrong
Diane	Ashley Palmer
Kristi Rey		Sprague Grayden	Jessica Tyler Brown (young) Sprague Grayden (adult)	Sprague Grayden (archive footage)	Jessica Tyler Brown (young)
Daniel Rey		Brian Boland		Brian Boland (archive footage)
Ali Rey		Molly Ephraim			Molly Ephraim
Hunter Rey/Wyatt Nelson		Jackson Xenia Prieto William Juan Prieto		Aiden Lovekamp
Brad		Seth Ginsberg
Martine		Vivis Cortez
Dennis			Chris Smith
Julie			Lauren Bittner
Lois			Hallie Foote
Lisa			Johanna Braddy
Randy Rosen			Dustin Ingram
Alex Nelson				Kathryn Newton
Ben				Matt Shively
Robbie				Brady Allen
Doug Nelson				Stephen Dunham
Holly Nelson				Alexondra Lee
Jesse Arista					Andrew Jacobs
Hector Estrella					Jorge Diaz
Marisol Vargas					Gabrielle Walsh
Irma Arista					Renée Victor
Ana Sanchez					Gloria Sandoval
Arturo Lopez					Richard Cabral
Oscar Lopez					Carlos Pratts
Santo					Juan Vasquez

Unofficial film

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night

An unofficial Japanese Paranormal Activity sequel was released in 2010. It follows Haruka Yamano, who was in a car accident that broke her legs. She stayed home with her brother while their father was away as strange activity started happening in the house. It is later revealed that Haruka killed the possessed Katie in the car accident, causing the demon to transfer to her. This confirms that the film is non-canonical as the events in Paranormal Activity 4, in which Katie is involved, occurred in 2011.

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Ref(s)
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
Paranormal Activity	October 16, 2009	$107,918,810	$85,436,990	$193,355,800	#486		$15,000	[14]
Paranormal Activity 2	October 22, 2010	$84,752,907	$92,759,125	$177,512,032	#687		$3 million	[15]
Paranormal Activity 3	October 21, 2011	$104,028,807	$103,011,037	$207,039,844	#514	#528	$5 million	[16]
Paranormal Activity 4	October 19, 2012	$53,900,335	$88,917,657	$142,817,992	#1,253		$5 million	[17]
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones	January 3, 2014	$32,462,372	$58,442,482	$90,904,854	#2,142		$5 million	[18]
Total		$383,084,196	$428,557,399	$811,641,595			$18,015,000
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Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Paranormal Activity	83% (192 reviews)[19]	68% (24 reviews)[20]
Paranormal Activity 2	58% (130 reviews)[21]	53% (23 reviews)[22]	B[23]
Paranormal Activity 3	68% (117 reviews)[24]	59% (25 reviews)[25]	C+[23]
Paranormal Activity 4	24% (103 reviews)[26]	40% (22 reviews)[27]	C[23]
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones	38% (77 reviews)[28]	42% (19 reviews)[29]	C-[23]
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References

Paranormal Activity Film series Paranormal Activity Paranormal Activity 2 Paranormal Activity 3 Paranormal Activity 4 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Spin-offs Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones