As audiences continue to pile in theaters to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and rumors swirl about a possible sequel, at least five Hollywood studios are in a bidding war for director Oren Peli’s next film AREA 51. Currently shooting in Utah, the film is definitely more expensive than PARANORMAL ($5 million compared to $10,000) but is filmed using the same guerrilla-style/found footage technique.
The New York Times is reporting that Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Universal and Fox are in talks with Peli’s agents about acquiring rights to AREA 51, a thriller about alien conspiracies. Oddly enough, two studios I thought would be at the forefront, Paramount (who is releasing PARANORMAL) and Lionsgate (kings of the cheapie thrillers) have decided to sit out the bidding and are not currently interested in the film.
The problem some studios are seeing with AREA 51 is that they won’t be able to market it like Paramount did with PARANORMAL. Directors of indie smash hits like BLAIR WITCH and MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING all struggled with their follow-up films. AREA 51 will be presenting at the AFM in California next week so we may learn more about the film at that point.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed