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Joshua Pasch: I'm less convinced than David that the story's progression is the key to the franchise's future earnings.

My feelings are that people have yet to tire of the effective visceral thrill of the PA-franchise. That is its hook. People began tiring of that Rube Goldberg inspired "thrill" of the Saw franchise after the fifth entry, and I would expect PA to make it at least that far. I actually missed out on the second PA entry, and still found part III to be hugely enjoyable. Hence, my inclination to give more credence the the thematic hook of the franchise over the plot development.

Shalimar Sahota: Last year when the second film opened I thought "that" would be the high point of the franchise, mainly because I wasn't sure how far the concept could go. I felt that a third film, which happens to be another prequel going even further back in time, was really stretching it. God forbid they make a fourth film where we see the evil inside the womb. Rather than milking the Paranormal udder every year, I would prefer if Paramount learned from this and focused on maybe delivering an entirely new (but not that dissimilar) low budget property. Still, if they want to keep this franchise going and have a chance at topping this opening, then I feel that the inevitable fourth instalment has got to be a proper sequel (what happened to Katie Featherston?). Plus, I don't see how anyone can say no to that profit margin. So... same time next year?

Brett Beach: Setting aside the conflicting stories on opening weekend response to PA3, if the makers maintain the same dedication to low budgets, and a familiar format tweaked just enough each time, then I would see PA4 perhaps opening even slightly higher. I have not seen these films yet, but the question does occur to me: who is assembling this footage? (And will that play into the storyline progression?)

Edwin Davies: If, as David says, the fourth film focuses on what happens after the events of the first Paranormal Activity, then I'd be willing to say that it will open higher than PA3. I think that people have invested three films' worth of time to the story so far, and now that all the backstory is out of the way - unless they're going to do a Tremors 4 and tell the story of the characters' ancestors in the Wild West by, I dunno, depicting the events using wood carvings in place of CCTV - showing what happens after the first night would be a big enough hook to drag everyone who has seen the previous films out. After that, I don't see the franchise ever achieving those heights again, and if they don't keep the quality up I can see it dropping off with each subsequent instalment until some other young, hungry franchise takes it down. If they just keep doing prequels, though, diminishing returns will set in much quicker; people might not tire of the concept quickly but they will tire of a lack of forward momentum.

Reagen Sulewski: I expect that by PA7 we'll be watching the investigation of the main character's great-great grandmother's haunting through the use of an astounding new device invented by Thomas Edison.

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