After striking the Hollywood equivalent of gold, you’d think that director Oren Peli’s next movie, a sci-fi thriller called “Area 51″, would be the subject of an intense bidding war by the major studios, including Paramount, the company that is making a mint off Peli’s little horror movie that could “Paranormal Activity”. Not so much.
The NY Times has a curious article about Peli’s “Area 51″, a movie that he’s currently shooting in Utah that will follow the same “found videotape” formula Peli used to great success in “Activity”, a film shot for as little as $15,000, but has gone on to gross over $62 million domestically. The film is expected to make even more this Halloween weekend, and still has the International markets waiting in the wings.
While the producers of “Area 51″ are trying to get rights to the film sold before the weekend, there are some noticeably missing bidders among the big studios, like DreamWorks, Paramount, Lionsgate, and Overture . Meanwhile, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox are mum on whether they’re bidding or not.
So why the general lack of interest in “Area 51″? According to the article, studios aren’t sure they can duplicate the success of “Paranormal Activity”, a movie that has benefited greatly from word-of-mouth among moviegoers. Plus, you can only “discover” a new filmmaker once. I suppose another reason could be Peli’s shooting style; he’s going for the same “found footage” gimmick that he used on “Activity”, which certainly seems to indicate a general lack of, well, originality.
But hey, maybe “Area 51″ will turn out to be great. “Activity”, for all the hype, was just okay.
Check it out, the guy who did Paranormal Activity is making a movie about us. Woot!
