Horror franchises have long made a home for themselves on the spookiest day of the year. Throughout the '80s, the Halloween franchise (naturally) owned the date, with a new film being released around the holiday every couple of years. The Saw franchise managed to release a new installment around Halloween every single year between 2004 and 2010. Then it was Paranormal Activity's turn to take over, with four Halloween releases between 2010 and the series' conclusion last year. So with the date opening up for a new franchise, the Ouija franchise appears to be staking its claim with its second Halloween release in three years, Ouija: Origin of Evil . But just how many Ouija movies will there be?
That's a question that for now remains unanswered. Technically, no sequels beyond Ouija: Origin of Evil have been announced, but the smart money is on the franchise multiplying. One of the main reasons I believe this is due to the producers behind the film. One is Blumhouse Productions, who, in addition to producing the Paranormal Activity movies, have also made successful low budget horror franchises out of the films Insidious, Sinister, and The Purge. Another producer on the franchise is toymaker Hasbro, who makes the Ouija board game. They of course have their massive (and still growing) Transformers and G.I. Joe film franchises, and also have big movie plans around other properties of theirs like Monopoly, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and My Little Pony.
Besides the franchise-happy studios involved, a continued Ouija movie expansion also has the support of Origin of Evil 's writer-director, Mike Flanagan. "It’d be kind of cool to see how the franchise does with new voices coming in for later installments," he told Bloody Disgusting in a recent interview. "There’s just so many places you can go, narratively, with the board itself… it’s been around for 100 years, and the story possibilities are endless. It could be a real anthology franchise, with a different filmmaker helming each new entry. That could be lots of fun."
Nothing is official, but there appear to be a lot of factors that suggest the Ouija franchise could last a good, long time. Whether it will make it to ten films like Halloween, seven like Saw, or six like Paranormal Activity remains to be seen, but I'd be willing to bet that Ouija movies will be popping up around October 31 for at least the next few years.
Images: Universal Pictures; Giphy
