While James Wan (‘The Conjuring‘,’Saw’) made ‘Insidious’ and ‘Insidious 2’ into a very successful horror franchise, when Hollywood came calling to have him direct ‘Fast & The Furious 7’ he couldn’t pass on the opportunity. Unfortunately, this made him unavailable for directing ‘Insidious 3‘. With a third film being greenlit and already having a release date of April 3rd, 2015, the studio needed to find a new director — and fast. Thankfully, they didn’t have to search far as writer and co-star of the first two films, Leigh Whannell has been tasked to fill Wan’s shoes. As Wan is still on board as a producer on the film it is quite clear that he approves of his replacement and the momentum for the next film can start moving forward!
This will be the first time that Whannell will be in the director’s chair though he has quite a bit of experience with horror, He is credited for writing the ‘Saw’ and ‘Insidious’ series among others and has produced and acted in many of them as well. He clearly knows how the films should look and feel and hopefully his directing style will match that of Wan’s.
With the first film costing $1.5 million to make and raking in $97 million world wide, and the second having a budget of $5 million with $161 million being made worldwide, there will be a lot of pressure to have another hit on their hands. While the success of the first two almost guarantee a success, how much of one will depend on the quality of the film.
While the second installment of the film may have ended the Lambert family’s involvement with the dead from The Further, it also opened a potential way for the third movie to come full circle. The clairvoyant Elise was killed in the first movie and brought back as a spirit at the end of the second who was reunited with Specs and Tucker, which could likely be the jumping in point for the third movie. I hope this is tied into the film somehow because revisiting the Lambert family in anything past a cameo would be beating a dead horse. Ideally the film will involve a new family being tortured by demons or ghosts from The Further with Elise, Specs and Tucker coming in to help out as I’m not sure if their characters are strong enough to carry a full film on their own. Also they need a new family because they really need a creepy looking kid again because — let’s be honest — kids in horror films just work.
What do you think of Whannell having ‘Insidious 3’ as his directorial debut? Is it fitting with how involved in the series he has been to date or a little risky for such a money making franchise? Sound off below!
‘Insidious 3’ is set to be released in theaters on April 3, 2015
Source: Cinema Blend
