Over the last few years, the Paranormal Activity franchise has kept on tucking, making big money thanks to their individually limited budgets. That being said, fans of the series have been left waiting for Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension - which saw its original release date delayed almost a full year. Finally, we now have our first details about the new film, and one of those first tidbits is that the new movie going to be the final frame in the six year reign.
USA Today spoke with producers Jason Blum and Oren Peli, who are gearing up to push Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension in front of audiences this fall, and it was during their interview that it was revealed the next sequel will be the last sequel in the franchise. Discussing the new movie, Blum explained,
It's coming to an end. This is it, the finale. We're saying it before the movie opens. We're not going to grind this horror franchise into the ground. This will keep Paranormal Activity as part of this culture and this particular time in a really fantastic way.
Knowing going in that this will be the swan song of the series, the two men made some big promises about what Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will deliver. This includes the detail that we'll finally get to see Toby – the demon who has been haunting the protagonists in each film from the beginning - as well as finally find out why all of these hauntings have been happening in the first place.
Also on hand in the piece was the following official synopsis:
The Ghost Dimension, directed by Gregory Plotkin, follows a new family, the Fleeges — father Ryan (Chris J. Murray), mother Emily (Brit Shaw) and their young daughter Leila (Ivy George) — who move into a house and discover a video camera and a box of tapes in the garage. When they look through the camera's lens, they begin to see the paranormal activity happening around them — including the re-emergence of young Kristi and Katie.
The accompanying stills in the USA Today piece show that the Fleeges made the biggest mistake ever by starting to watch those tapes. Before you can say Poltergeist, Leila is communicating with Toby, and opening a supernatural can of worms that will culminate in what wants to be the end all, be all entry in the Paranormal Activity series. As if there wasn't enough of a similarity between Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Poltergeist's dreadful remake, Jason Blum and Oren Peli announced that the third dimensional approach will be used in this final ride for the franchise. While some films out there beg for a good 3D conversion, we can't help but feel this is just a fresh batch of Cinema Sins waiting to be tallied.
Still, after five entries, the Paranormal Activity franchise is voluntarily calling it quits. That's something to celebrate, considering most franchises would have kept going until at least the seventh entry before nailing the coffin closed. This leaves only the threat of future Paranormal Activity films being in the form of an eventual reboot – which is something that Blum is all too eager to shuffle into the deck, as he closed his interview with the following salvo:
At some point, might there be a reboot? You never know. We've never discussed it. (But) we made this movie like it's the end of this Paranormal line for sure.
You can catch Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension on October 23rd.
