‘Paranormal Activity’ Franchise To Create New Haunting Stage Play

Ever since 2021, the Paranormal Activity franchise ghosted fans. Depending on the horror fan you ask, rightly so. Did you see Next of Kin on Paramount+? Oof! That notwithstanding, the makers of the “Spirits Gone Wild” series have decided there’s one place they haven’t spooked out – Broadway.

Yes, Paranormal Activity is creating a full-on stage play so live audiences can get their butts puckered in New York’s old theaters. It may be a little strange for real people to act like unreal spirits and pretend the audience won’t see them, but this could be interesting.

THR reported exclusively that Simon Friend, the man behind the stage adaptations of Life of Pi and The Da Vinci Code has the wild idea to bring the Paramount collection of jump scares to the new medium.

Friend has pegged Levi Holloway for the screenplay, who wrote the successful, creepy, and live Grey House to the stage.

Broadway, the Paranormal Activity Way

Fitting for the franchise, fans are going to be held in suspense because THR doesn’t have much information other than what is reported here and the production is said to be in “early development.”

As for all seven movies in the collection, several things can be said about Oren Peli‘s creation. Many of those notes could be “The guy needed to know when to stop.” The last three movies haven’t been terribly exciting or even scary, but the way it began is unparalleled.

Paranormal Activity arrived in theaters with shock and awe as a pioneer in the “found footage” horror sub-genre. When it left its theatrical run behind, it created a historic benchmark as the most profitable movie ever made.

Oren Peli wrote and directed the film inside his house for $15,000 (even less expensive than The Blair Witch Project at $60K). When it was complete, Peli struck gold with a 645,000% return on investment at $194.2 million.

If Friend and Holloway have that kind of masterstroke on Broadway, we may have another seven on the way in the found footage free-for-all. Stay tuned. This is something geekly we plan to continue covering. (Sorry.)