Last week we heard news that Paramount had finally found a director for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2, the follow up to the insanely popular "found footage" horror film that hit theaters last year. Now, Variety is reporting that the highly anticipated sequel will be facing off once again with another popular horror franchise. October 22 will be the wide release opening date for SAW VII 3D and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. Hit the jump for more information.

Back in 2009, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was playing in 1,945 theaters on Halloween weekend. Traditionally, this weekend is reserved for the usually bankable horror franchise, SAW, which was playing in 3,036 theaters nationwide. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, a film shot in eight days on a $11,000 budget grossed $21.1 million dollars. SAW VI, a long running franchise that has traditionally been quite successful, paled in comparison with a mere $14.1 million dollars.

Now, a $14 million opening weekend gross isn't bad for an R-rated horror film. However, it doesn't really compare with the past SAW films. For example, only one film earlier, SAW V had a $30 million gross. Industry analysts are torn as to whether this substantial drop can be attributed to either franchise fatigue or PARANORMAL ACTIVITY's success.

I'd argue that Paramount's audience driven release strategy and ridiculous hype surrounding PARANORMAL contributed to an abnormally high box office. The movie ended up making $107 million domestically, compared with the $62 million for SAW VI.

I'm not surprised Paramount is looking to deal another blow against the SAW franchise, as they're attempting to establish another franchise of their own in the horror market. The horror film is infamous for long running franchises, with the most memorable being the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13th series.

What leaves me wondering is the quick turnaround on PARANORMAL 2. Can the studio, and the director, really expect to turn around such a highly anticipated film in such a short amount of time? Perhaps they can, as the original film only took eight days to shoot and due to the guerrilla nature of the cinematography there wasn't much editing to be done. If the second film mimics the first film in this fashion, I could imagine the film being ready for the planned release.

However, they're probably going to need some innovation with regard to the second film. They can't expect to simply repeat the first film and receive praise from audiences or critics. I expect that they'll stick to their formula, but I surely don't think the sequel will reach the same heights as the first. SAW VII has a few things going for it, after all. They've got a good deal of hype around the film, especially because it's supposed to be the last film in the franchise. In addition, 3D has been shown to pad box office receipts in an astounding way. Look at the $66 million gross on THE FINAL DESTINATION.

All in all, October 22 will be an interesting weekend.

Sourece: Variety