It’s ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ vs. ‘Saw VII 3D’ This Halloween

Last August, a small film called Paranormal Activity swept the nation, making nearly $200 Million to date, worldwide, and creeping out just about every teen who walked into the theater. On the other side, 2009 was the 6th consecutive year that Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures put out a film in the Saw franchise. To date, Saw VI has only made $60 Million worldwide.

Since 2005, a Saw film has always dominated the theaters on the weekend of or just before Halloween. Granted, October is infamous for being the worst financial time of year for films and it still holds strong. Now, it seems the sequel to Paranormal Activity will be coming out to directly compete with the next Saw film, and they plan to be victorious. From Variety:

Paramount is committed to meeting the Oct. 22 release date for “Paranormal Activity 2,” which pits the sequel directly against “Saw VII 3D.”

“Saw VII” has already tried to bloody “Paranormal 2” once. Kevin Greutert was circling to direct “Paranormal 2” when Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures exercised an option requiring Greutert to direct the seventh installment in the “Saw” franchise.

“Paranormal 2” didn’t get a director until just last week, when Tod “Kip” Williams inked a deal to helm the pic. Williams is new to the horror genre, having directed indies “The Door in the Floor” and “The Adventures of Sebastian Cole.”

While they have just hired a director, and are sticking to a release date just over 6 months from now, don’t think it’s such an impossible feat. The first film only took 8 days to shoot, and only cost about $15K. It now comes down to the new Hollywood question: 3D vs. 2D? Paramount currently has no plans to release Paranormal 2 in 3D.