In what could be one of the more unusual – and certainly unexpected – announcements of 2023, Paranormal Activity is getting its own stage play. Yes, that’s right, the movie franchise all about scaring audiences with ghostly goings-on is set to tread to boards of London’s West End.
Revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the project is the brainchild of Simon Friend. A veteran producer who helped bring Life of Pi to Broadway, Friend has acquired the license from Paramount to create a West End show. Currently in early development, Grey House writer Levi Holloway will be penning the stage adaption.
Horror in the West End
The Paranormal Activity franchise is known for its jump scares and tense atmosphere. Most of all, the films keep to a mobile phone, CCTV-style of footage. Quite how any of that will translate to the stage or whether the creators take a different approach is still to be revealed.
Created by Oren Peli, the original film premiered in 2007. All the movies tend to focus on a family plagued by a demon. With viewers watching events unfold through the character’s own recorded footage. Due to this method of creation, the Paranormal Activity films are made on microbudgets. This has allowed each one to be highly profitable, with the original being the most successful. It grossed $193.4 million USD globally, whilst the entire franchise has hit almost $900 million in theatres alone.
Paranormal Activity’s emergence as a stage play is in good hands though. Friend has brought The Da Vinci Code, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Life of Pi to Broadway and the West End. The latter won five Olivier Awards and three Tonys.
Are you a Paranormal Activity fan? Interested in seeing the movie come to the stage? Or maybe a more traditional horror like Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is more you? Let us know in the comments below.
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