The first Paranormal Activity movie, as written and directed by Oren Peli, cost around $15,000 to make, was purchased by Paramount for somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000, and went on to gross more than $100 million when it reached theaters in October of 2009. Last year, Paranormal Activity 2, made for just a few millions dollars, grossed just under $85 million.
Given those ratios of expense-to-profit, it was guaranteed that another entry in the found footage franchise would roll around this Halloween, and probably for the next several Halloweens as well. The first poster for Paranormal Activity 3 premiered online today, sticking to the style of its predecessors while claiming that audiences will "Discover how the activity began."
Like the Saw franchise did during its seven-year run of October releases, it seems almost inevitable that Paranormal Activity will be offering up posters very much like this one yearly.
Christopher Landon, who co-wrote the first sequelMichael R. Perry, once again penned the screenplay, though second director Tod Williams is not returning for another round of night terrors. Taking over as directors are Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the duo who made their feature debut last year with the documentary Catfish.
Paranormal Activity 3 is set to hit theaters on October 21st.
