The bloke in the picture above must be a pretty happy chap. His name is
Oren Peli and he is the Israeli-born writer and director who created the surprise (US) box-office smash
Paranormal Activity (which opens in Australia on Thursday). When I say box office smash I mean that his $11,000 film grossed $106 million last month. Now
that's a smash hit in my books.
So it's no surprise that Paramount recently decided to pick up the distribution rights to Peli's $5 million follow-up film
Area 51.
Area 51 (which has already been filmed with a cast of unknown actors) uses the same "found footage" structure that was utilised in
Paranormal Activity. The film tells the story of three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious Area 51 portion of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.
It's currently in post-production and the plan is for it to hit cinemas some time in 2010 ... which only gives us a few months to recover from the terror of
Paranormal Activity.
You can read more about it in this
Variety report.