Director Christopher Landon's PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES hit theaters over the weekend, opening fairly strong in the number 2 slot and pulling in a healthy $18 million. Who would've thought that Oren Peli's 2007 surprise hit PARANORMAL ACTIVITY could've spawned a franchise lasting 7 years with 5 films (with a sixth film scheduled to hit theaters in October)? And with each new film the mythology of the series is expanded, leaving audiences guessing as to what can possibly come next.
But there is an ultimate ending planned according to Landon, who recently spoke to SlashFilm and revealed that he, series creator Oren Peli, and producer Jason Blum have an endgame in mind to wrap up the franchise. Landon shared…
We’ve always been looking ahead. I’ll say this much. There is a very specific end goal and I’m hoping we have enough time in the franchise to get there. We have a really big idea that’s at the finish line but we need time to get there. So we’re hoping the fans keep coming back and allow us to get them there.
When asked if the ending of his recent THE MARKED ONES was our first hint of that, Landon replied…
The beginning of that started in Oren’s movie. I don’t think Oren realized it then, because when he made the first movie it felt like a stand alone movie, but then when we started making 2 and we started to see the potential and possibility there for a franchise, that’s when the real think tank element came in to play and we really started to throw out crazy ideas. Then, over the course of the last couple movies, we came to a really good, interesting place.
What could this ending be? How far down the line could it be? We’ll surely find out more come October when PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 5 haunts theaters. Until then, hit us with your theories below. We'd love to hear 'em!