Paranormal Activity 2 Finds a Director

Let's quickly recap the epic battle of Paranormal Activity 2 vs Saw VII...Last year, director Kevin Greutert's Saw VI took the series' first real body-blow in years from the low-budget phenomenon that was Paranormal Activity. The Saw folks, who had pretty much owned Halloween for the previous five years, were not happy about this. Oren Pelli, who produced and directed Paranormal, was very happy. David Hackl, who directed the lackluster Saw V, was tapped to work on the seventh film in the franchise and Paramount went off to find a director for the inventible sequel to their own unlikely success. And they found that director...in Kevin Greutert...dealing yet another body-blow to the Saw franchise by stealing away their own director. Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures, however, fought back, exercising a clause in Greutert's contract that legally obligated him to direct Saw VII, despite his own personal objections, and removed Hackl from the gig with the promise that they'd attach him to something else.

Greutert's subsequent blog entries were priceless...and deleted about as quickly as they were posted. Apparently, it's not good form to publicly rail against the job you're being forced to do...

That said, after searching for a replacement director - who was at one time rumored to be Brian DePalma - Paramount has hired The Door in the Floor director Kip Williams to helm the Paranormal sequel. Producer Oren Pelli stated, "We are thrilled to have Kip working with us. He is the guy we want at the helm, because he knows exactly what we want to deliver to the fans...and I can't wait to be a part of what he's putting together. I don't want to spoil the story but I promise it'll surprise you."