5. Lost In Limbo
March 2008, and DreamWorks is holding its latest screening, to which it has invited a crop of screen scribes to get their views on a likely remake.
At first, it didn't exactly seem to be going well. Several audience members walked out. "I thought this was one of the worst previews I'd ever been a part of," shudders Goodman.
He needn't have fretted - the empty chairs were caused by some of the audience being genuinely freaked by the film, and reactions following the screening ran the gamut from terrified to tepid.
With the success of the showing, the senior DreamWorks team began considering another option - putting out Peli's original, albeit in a Spielberg-tweaked, shorter form.
And then the split happened. Like warring parents battling over custody of the children, the previously happy deal between DreamWorks and Paramount erupted into a feud.
Many of the joint projects were thrown into chaos as the two studios began to argue about who owned which film.
"Basically, everything between DreamWorks and Paramount was put on hold, and we didn't know where the movie was going to end up," says Peli, who admits that the waiting game to find out whether Paranormal Activity would even see the light of day was scarier than any demon. "It was not fun to sit and wait."
But he had to wait as the studios wrangled. Eventually, Activity ended up as a Paramount trophy. And while it sat on the company's shelf for more than a year, it was still generating interest.
In November 2008, Stuart Ford's IM Global company, in charge of drumming up international sales for the film, showed it to 150 buyers in LA. Cannily, he also recruited teenagers and 20-somethings to fill the other seats.
"It was nothing short of riotous," Stuart has said. "In the next 24 hours, we sold out all the international rights in 52 countries."
Paranormal Activity's bandwagon was well and truly rolling again, and it didn't stop there…
Next: Dusted Off
Comments
sowasred2012
Oct 20th 2009, 12:44
This feature is all well and good but it's not helping us Brits get it any faster! I've been hearing about how much this film is scaring the s**t out of people across the pond for a few months now, and I've done my little 'demand it' thing several times - and it's still not out till next sodding month! What are we supposed to watch at Halloween? The Fourth Kind? f**k that (although Milla Jovovich is in it, and she *is* hot so... but then again, she's in all three Resident Evil movies so her presence maybe doesn't make a film watchable). Actually, anyone know if any cinemas are planning to do some kind of Halloween night, featuring this?
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graverobber666
Oct 20th 2009, 13:36
Don't believe the hype, saw it last night. Creepy? Absolutely. Terrifying and THE SCARIOEST FILM EVER? Absolutely not.
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Comex
Oct 20th 2009, 16:49
ROTFL! The funniest part of this interview is: "From my research, I learned the more violent entities are demonic. We wanted to be as truthful as we could be." I could not have kept a straight face if I said this in an interview.
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chuffster
Oct 23rd 2009, 11:30
They say you won't sleep after watching it....they were right,I had so much sleep during this over hyped bore fest,I didn't need any at bedtime! Only scary to children under 3 and anyone with a seriously over active imagination...
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chuffster
Oct 23rd 2009, 11:31
They say you won't sleep after watching it....they were right,I had so much sleep during this over hyped bore fest,I didn't need any at bedtime! Only scary to children under 3 and anyone with a seriously over active imagination...
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JimmyJump
Oct 23rd 2009, 14:50
We should all remind ourselves that, luckily, there's different points of view, i.e. different points of experiencing something. I saw the movie, and although it didn't 'scare' me, I found myself at the edge of my seat at times. Because the movie is well done and grabs (and keeps) your attention. The intro is rather lengthy, but once the 'action' gets underway, the flick is thoroughly enjoyable. And that's the most important thing, no? JJ
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