Paranormal Activity 7, the newest installment in the Paranormal Activity franchise, has cast four lead characters. The wildly popular, low budget Paranormal Activity series has attracted the attention of found footage horror fans since the first film was released in 2009 from director Oren Peli, who created Paranormal Activity on a $15,000 budget. The film went on to gross over $190 million dollars with the backing of powerhouse horror producers, Blumhouse Productions.
Ten years after The Blair Witch Project shook up the horror genre with its found footage format, Paranormal Activity utilized similar aspects of camera work and subtle jump scares to find a brand-new audience to appreciate the unorthodox storytelling method. Peli used security cameras and personal camera footage to tell the story of Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), a couple afflicted by supernatural phenomenon surrounding Katie and her past. The film opened to mixed reviews, but eventually found a huge following, with the franchise expanding to four films involving Katie’s family history, as well as a spinoff series, including Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
In 2019, Paramount Pictures, along with Blumhouse Productions, announced the seventh film in the franchise. The production was subsequently delayed due to the ongoing pandemic but has now continued forward in casting. The Wrap exclusively reported that the newest installment of the Paranormal Activity franchise has cast its four main leads. Emily Bader (Charmed), Roland Buck III (Better Call Saul), Dan Lippert (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and Henry Ayres-Brown (Monsterland) will lead in the film that is set to premiere on Paramount+.
There has not been any information on what Paranormal 7 will be about, but the film has secured its director in Will Eubank (Underwater) and will be written by Christopher Landon of Happy Death Day fame. Based on the entirely new cast of characters listed above, it appears that the film will not be connected to the original storyline but will start over with the haunting of an entirely new group. It is possible that Toby, the demonic spirit that haunted Katie and her family in the original series, could find a new home in one or all of the new characters, or the reboot could explore an entirely new entity.
Peli will executive produce the newest iteration along with Jason Blum and Steven Schneider. Blumhouse Productions has made a name for itself by creating low budget and highly profitable content, including Into the Dark, the television film series for Hulu, but back when Paranormal Activity first premiered, Blum and his company were still on the fringe of the studio circuit.
There is much less risk in this seventh foray into the series as there is a built-in audience who is likely to watch Paranormal Activity 7 no matter the critical reception. With the astounding success of the franchise, which made a total of $900 million worldwide, there is always great potential to further expand the universe. As of now, Paramount has scheduled the reboot for a March 2022 release.
