Why Jason Blum invested in Broadway’s PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Jason Blum says he invested in the Broadway production of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and agreed to help promote it only after seeing its Los Angeles engagement, clarifying that his role began well after the stage thriller had been created. In a Vulture interview with Jason P. Frank, published on 3 September 2026 after the New York opening, the horror producer explained that the production’s combination of story, misdirection and stagecraft convinced him it could frighten a live audience. His account directs attention to the theatre makers who developed the work while defining his later contribution.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY began previews at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre on 14 August 2026 and officially opened on 25 August. The original play, which tells a new story inspired by the film series rather than directly adapting the first movie’s characters and plot, is scheduled for a limited engagement through 3 January 2027. That timing superseded the 15 September opening date carried in earlier reports. No reason for the move to the earlier date has been established.

Levi Holloway wrote the play and Felix Barrett directed it. Official Broadway records identify Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska for Melting Pot as lead producers, while Blumhouse is among the co-producers and the production is presented by arrangement with Paramount Pictures. Blum told Vulture that Barrett, Holloway and Friend developed the work, firmly distinguishing their creative and producing responsibilities from his later involvement.

The project first came to Blum, Paramount and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY film creator Oren Peli for approval. Blum subsequently saw the engagement at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre, where he concluded that the production delivered genuine live scares. He then invested in the Broadway engagement and agreed to assist with its promotion. The amount and terms of that investment have not been disclosed.

Blum’s explanation of the production’s effectiveness centred on immersion and control of the audience’s attention. In his assessment, the play establishes an involving narrative before using misdirection to prepare scares beyond the audience’s immediate focus. That approach relies on the coordination of performance, lighting, sound, scenery and illusion rather than attempting to reproduce the elaborate visual tools available to cinema.

The principal design team includes Fly Davis, Anna Watson, Gareth Fry, Luke Halls and illusion designer Chris Fisher. Their stagecraft serves a story about James and Lou, a couple who relocate from Chicago to London before encountering a supernatural threat connected to their personal history.

Cher Álvarez and Travis A. Knight lead the Broadway company as Lou and James. The opening cast also includes Shannon Cochran as Carolanne and Eva Kaminsky as Etheline Cotgrave. Playbill’s initial casting report named Andrea Syglowski for the latter role, but current production and opening-night records list Kaminsky. No reason for the change has been established.

The production’s path to Broadway began at Leeds Playhouse, where it was first produced on 4 July 2024. It subsequently played London and multiple North American engagements before reaching New York.

For Blum, theatre also offers a way to renew interest in an established screen franchise. He told Vulture that his aim was not to use Broadway to lend PARANORMAL ACTIVITY additional prestige, but to reinvigorate the property by presenting audiences with a different form of storytelling. That strategy places the play alongside the films without requiring it to retell the original movie.

Blum said he would consider a year-long Broadway run and the creation of a touring company successful outcomes. Neither has been announced, and the confirmed New York booking remains a limited engagement through 3 January 2027. No Australian season or other touring itinerary has been established. There is also insufficient Broadway gross or recoupment information to assess the production’s early commercial trajectory.

He also told Vulture that another PARANORMAL ACTIVITY film was being made and that the stage production would influence it. No independent official confirmation of the film’s production stage, timetable or release plan has been established, and Blum provided no concrete account of how the play might shape it.

AussieTheatre’s May 2026 report covered the Broadway transfer, premise, creative team and Blumhouse’s participation in the producing group. The later Vulture interview adds Blum’s account of how he came aboard, why the live horror mechanics convinced him and how he is considering theatre within his wider franchise strategy.

That broader thinking led Blum to suggest that a M3GAN musical could be one way to renew audience interest in the film property. The comment was exploratory rather than an announcement. No stage adaptation, rights agreement, writer, composer, director, venue or development timetable has been confirmed.

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