$5 million instead of the $11,000 initially spent
on "Paranormal." Although four other studios made bids, Paramount had the upper
hand thanks to the terrific marketing job they did on "Paranormal," which has
now grossed well over $100 million at the box office (for a horror movie!).
"Area 51" utilizes the same "found footage" style as Peli's debut to tell the
story of three young people who stumble onto the notorious title area at Nellis
Air Force Base in Nevada, where conspiracy theorists have claimed for years that
the remains of a UFO and alien bodies have been kept. If it's as creepy as
"Paranormal" (only with aliens), I think Peli is onto something.
"Paranormal," meanwhile, will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on Dec. 29 -- that's
right, folks, just three weeks from now. Pretty fast turnaround for a major box
office hit, but clearly Paramount wants to grab as much of the momentum from the
movie as it can, especially in these days of moribund DVD sales. Peli's
atmospheric little shocker is coming out in an "unrated" version, odd for a
movie that relied almost entirely on what you didn't see. More annoying is that
the disc will include only one alternate ending; and as Peli himself has told
many, including me, several were shot (I've seen two myself). So where are the
others, along with the hours of additional footage that Peli also filmed? Sounds
like the old double-dip deluxe edition will come our way sometime next year, so
you might not want to rush out now for this bare bones version.
('Paranormal Activity'/Paramount Pictures)
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