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‘Paranormal’ Producer Talks ‘Amityville,’ ‘Lords of Salem,’ ‘Area 51’ and More

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A lengthy interview has appeared over at Shocktillyodrop where they talk with Jason Blum, producer on all Paranormal Activity projects, Insidious, The Lords of Salem, The Bay and many other genre offerings. While he skirts the issue on a few forthcoming releases, below you’ll find the juicy tid-bits.

When asked if Paranormal Activity 3 would be yet another prequel, Blum unsurprisingly gave ZERO info: “Can’t comment on that one! You will just have to see. [laughs]” He also gives no information on potential directors for ABC’s series “The River”.

As for Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem, he explains that it will be 100% a Rob Zombie movie: “He’s going to shoot in the fall. I think it’s fair to say it’s going to feel like a 100% Rob Zombie movie. That’s why I approached him, that’s why I’m lucky to be working with him. We’re encouraging him to do it just like he wants.” As we’ve seen in the past, Zombie flourishes when he’s not being clamped down by the studio.

Blum completely filibusters around what’s going on with Oren Peli’s directorial follow-up to Paranormal Activity. Back in 2009 Peli directed another lower-budgeted cinema verite genre film, Area 51, about a group of kids who end up in the midst of the Nevada landmark. While we already reported on reshoots and additional writing (April), Blum explains why it’s still not in theaters: “ ‘Area 51’ is like ‘Paranormal Activity’. The additional photography for ‘PA’, we went back 50 times. The great thing about doing extra shooting for inexpensive movies is that the cost is low, so we screen and shoot and screen and shoot. Oren and I were pulled away from ‘Area 51’ a lot for the second ‘PA’. Once that came out, we ramped up on ‘Area 51’ again. I anticipate the movie will be mostly done in about three or four months. They can’t set a release date yet until we do all of that.” When asked about a 2012 release he added that “it will depend on the competitive release schedule all the way around. It could be sooner.

Lastly, he talks a bit about how The Amityville Tapes ended up moving so quickly: “Dan [Farrands] and Casey [La Scala] came to me and said they wanted to do a found footage version of ‘Amityville’ and they had the rights to do it. I knew Bob [Weinstein] had the rights to do it. I said, lets take it to Bob and not fight him but join him – I worked for Bob and Harvey for five years – and we pitched it to Bob and he threw it into production.” I wish it were always that easy!

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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Jessica Rothe Keeps the Hope Alive for Third ‘Happy Death Day’ Movie

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It’s now been five years since the release of sequel Happy Death Day 2U, Christopher Landon’s sequel to the Groundhog Day-style slasher movie from 2017. Both films star Jessica Rothe as final girl Tree Gelbman, and director Christopher Landon had been planning on bringing the character – and the actor – back for a third installment. So… where is it?!

We’ve been talking about a potential Happy Death Day 3 for several years now, with the ball in producer Jason Blum’s court. Happy Death Day 2U scared up $64 million at the worldwide box office, a far cry from the first film’s $125 million. But with a reported production budget of just $9 million, that first sequel was profitable for Blumhouse. So again… where is it?!

Chatting with Screen Geek this week while promoting her new action-thriller Boy Kills World, franchise star Jessica Rothe provided a hopeful update on Happy Death Day 3.

Well, I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out,” Rothe explains. “We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row.

Rothe continues in her comments to Screen Geek, “But my fingers are so crossed. I think Tree [Gelbman] deserves her third and final chapter to bring that incredible character and franchise to a close or a new beginning.”

Back in 2020, Christopher Landon had revealed that the working title for the third installment was Happy Death Day to Us, said to be “different than the other two films.”

In the meantime, Christopher Landon is directing a mysterious thriller titled Drop for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, along with a werewolf movie titled Big Bad for Lionsgate.

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