Paranormal Activity is a 2009 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Oren Peli.
Originally developed as an independent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007. It was seen by Jason Blum, a senior executive at Miramax Films, who joined the project. Blum had been working as a producer since 1995 and had formed his own production company Blumhouse in 2000 but had not had any success. He saw a way to finally gain traction on the back of Peli’s production. However, when submitted to the Sundance Film Festival it was rejected.
DVDs were sent out to many people in the industry and DreamWorks executives Adam Goodman, Stacey Snider, and finally, Steven Spielberg was impressed. The film was acquired by Paramount Pictures, who owned DreamWorks and extensively modified, particularly with a new ending. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired U.S. rights for $350,000.
When released widely in 2009, the film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and $194 million worldwide.
Paranormal Activity is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.
Plot:
In 2006, Katie (played by Katie Featherston) and her boyfriend, Micah (Micah Sloat), are a young couple who recently moved into a two-story tract house in suburban San Diego, California. Katie claims that an “evil” presence has haunted her since childhood and believes that it has followed her to their new home.
Each night, Micah mounts a Sony HDR-FX1 on a tripod in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that might occur while they sleep, in the hopes of solving the problem himself. The first night, the only thing they catch are footstep noises and the sound of keys dropping, which they find on the floor downstairs the next day.
Katie hires a psychic, Doctor Fredrichs (Mark Fredrichs), who assesses that she is being haunted not by a ghost, but by a demon. He says the demon feeds off negative energy, and it intends to haunt and torment Katie no matter where she goes. He advises them not to taunt or communicate with the demon, and to contact demonologist Doctor Johann Averies for help…
Trailer:
