Christopher Landon | |
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Born | Christopher Beau Landon February 27, 1975 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Alma mater | Loyola Marymount University |
Years active | 1996–present |
Parents | Michael Landon (father) |
Relatives |
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Christopher Beau Landon (born February 27, 1975) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter best known for working in the horror and comedy horror genres.
He has worked as a screenwriter on the thriller Disturbia and most of the films in the Paranormal Activity found-footage horror series. He wrote and directed Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones as well as the horror comedy films Happy Death Day , Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse , Happy Death Day 2U , Freaky , and We Have a Ghost . He wrote and made his directorial debut on the satirical thriller film Burning Palms (2010).
Landon was born in Los Angeles and is the son of actor Michael Landon and Lynn Noe. He is the youngest of four children produced by their marriage. His parents divorced in 1980, when he was four years old; he resided with his father until the age of sixteen, when his father died of pancreatic cancer. [1] One of his brothers is Michael Landon Jr., an actor, and one of his half-sisters is Jennifer Landon, an actress. His paternal grandfather was Jewish, [2] whereas his paternal grandmother was Catholic, although his father was raised Jewish. [3]
Landon, following his father Michael Landon's footsteps in filmmaking, studied screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University, but dropped out three years into the course to pursue a career when film director Larry Clark offered him a writing job after reading one of his scripts. [1] He went on to co-write the script of Another Day in Paradise with Eddie Little and Stephen Chin. After writing Another Day in Paradise, he came out as gay, aware that homophobia may have harmed his potential in the industry. "I may fall off some list because of my sexuality. But if that happens, then I really don't want to be on that list anyway," he said, speaking of homophobia in Hollywood and the film industry. [1] "I was the flavor of the month, and then I was quickly dismissed. I reached a point in my career when I couldn't get a meeting anywhere." [4] He moved from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, contemplating the future of his career, which he revived only a few years later. [5] [4]
Most of Landon's films deal with gay themes and issues[ citation needed ], including $30, one of five components in Boys Life 3 , a collection of short films dealing with issues faced by gays, and a spec script about the relationship between a straight man and a gay man. [1] More recently, he has written the screenplays of the 2007 films Blood and Chocolate , The Flock [6] and the acclaimed Disturbia . Disturbia was one of his spec scripts which was brought to Montecito Pictures and subsequently DreamWorks Pictures, and went on to become No. 1 in cinemas upon its release. [4] [6] He next worked on The Lesson, a film for DreamWorks[ citation needed ] and the 2007 television series Dirty Sexy Money , his first television project, eager to expand his repertoire. [5] [4] He is worked on a screenplay for a film adaption of Lisa McMann's young adult novel Wake.[ citation needed ] Landon made his directorial debut with Burning Palms , a comedic thriller that was poorly received. [7]
Landon became a creative voice behind the Paranormal Activity film series, writing Paranormal Activity 2 , Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4 , and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin . Landon also directed and wrote the franchise spinoff, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones , which was released in 2014. [8]
Landon's next film was Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse . [9] He then wrote and directed Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U.
In August 2023, Landon was announced to direct Scream 7 , the seventh installment in the Scream franchise. [10] Landon announced on December 23, 2023, that he was no longer associated with the sequel, saying: "I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks ago. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it's time to move on." [11] [12]
Landon came out as gay in 1999, having only written the script of Another Day in Paradise, unafraid of his sexuality harming his career potential. [1] He says that growing up he was called a "faggot" by peers at his high school. [1] His mother, a Christian, refused to accept his sexuality. [1] His stepmother, Cindy Clerico, his father's next wife, told him that both she and his father suspected he was gay. [1]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | Another Day in Paradise | No | Yes | No | |
2000 | Boys Life 3 | No | Yes | Yes | Segment: "$30" |
2007 | Blood & Chocolate | No | Yes | No | |
Disturbia | No | Yes | No | ||
2007–2009 | Dirty Sexy Money | No | Yes | Consultant | Television series Writer: 2 episodes |
2010 | Burning Palms | Yes | Yes | Yes | Directorial debut |
Paranormal Activity 2 | No | Yes | No | ||
2011 | Paranormal Activity 3 | No | Yes | Co-producer | |
2012 | Paranormal Activity 4 | No | Yes | Executive | |
2014 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones | Yes | Yes | No | |
2015 | Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse | Yes | Yes | No | |
2016 | Viral | No | Yes | No | |
2017 | Happy Death Day | Yes | Uncredited | No | |
2019 | Happy Death Day 2U | Yes | Yes | No | |
2020 | Freaky | Yes | Yes | No | |
2021 | Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin | No | Yes | Executive | |
2022 | My Best Friend's Exorcism | No | No | Yes | |
2023 | We Have a Ghost | Yes | Yes | Executive | |
2024 | Time Cut | No | No | Yes | |
2025 | Drop | Yes | No | No | Filming |
George Andrew Romero Jr. was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and actor. His Night of the Living Dead series of films about a zombie apocalypse began with the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) and is considered a major contributor to the image of the zombie in modern culture. Other films in the series include Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).
Scout Taylor-Compton is an American actress. She has frequently worked in the horror genre, most notably as Laurie Strode in the 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel. Outside of horror, she portrayed musician Lita Ford in the biographical drama film The Runaways (2010).
Disturbia is a 2007 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and written by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth. Starring Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Sarah Roemer and Carrie-Anne Moss, it is about a 17-year-old teenager named Kale Brecht, who is placed on house arrest for assaulting his school teacher and who spies on his neighbors, believing one of them is a serial killer.
Scream is an American murder mystery and meta slasher franchise that includes six films, a television series, merchandise, and games. The first four films were directed by Wes Craven. The series was created by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first two films and the fourth, and will return to direct the seventh film. Ehren Kruger wrote the third. The fifth and sixth installments were directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, with Guy Busick and James Vanderbilt serving as writers and Williamson returning as executive producer. Dimension Films produced the first four films. Spyglass Media Group took over the rights from the fifth film on with Paramount Pictures distributing. The film series has grossed over US$900 million at the global box office.
Paranormal Activity 2 is a 2010 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon and Tom Pabst. The film is a prequel and a sequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film. It was released in theaters at midnight on October 22, 2010 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and Ireland. An unrated version of the film was also released.
Paranormal Activity 3 is a 2011 American found footage supernatural horror film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It is the third installment of the Paranormal Activity series and serves as a prequel, mostly set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films. It was released in theaters on October 21, 2011. Paranormal Activity 3 was also Joost and Schulman's first horror film.
Paranormal Activity 4 is a 2012 American found footage supernatural horror film, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost and written by Christopher Landon from a story by Chad Feehan. It is the fourth installment in the Paranormal Activity series, and a sequel to Paranormal Activity 2. The film features Katie Featherston, who starred in the first film. It was released by Paramount Pictures in theaters and IMAX on October 17, 2012, in the United Kingdom and on October 19, 2012, in the United States.
Paranormal Activity is an American supernatural horror franchise consisting of seven films and additional media. Created by Oren Peli, the original film premiered in 2007 and was widely released in 2009.
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Jason Ferus Blum is an American producer. He is founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, which has produced the horror franchises Paranormal Activity (2007–2021), Insidious (2010–2023), The Purge (2013–2021), and Halloween (2018-2022). Blum has also produced Sinister (2012), Oculus (2013), Whiplash (2014), The Gallows (2015), The Gift (2015), Hush (2016), Split (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Get Out (2017), Happy Death Day (2017), Upgrade (2018), Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), Freaky (2020), The Black Phone (2021), M3GAN (2022), and Five Nights at Freddy's (2023).
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a 2014 American found footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Christopher Landon. Released on January 3, 2014, in the United States, it is the fifth installment of the Paranormal Activity film series. It is also Landon's second directorial film, after Burning Palms. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $90 million worldwide.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a 2015 American zombie comedy film directed by Christopher Landon and written by Landon, Carrie Evans, Emi Mochizuki and Lona Williams. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont and David Koechner. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 2015, by Paramount Pictures. It received generally unfavorable reviews from critics.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is a 2015 American 3D found footage supernatural horror film directed by Gregory Plotkin in his directorial debut, and written by Jason Harry Pagan, Andrew Deutschman, Adam Robitel, and Gavin Heffernan. It is the sixth installment in the Paranormal Activity series. Most of the film takes place after Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), though the plot ties in heavily with the events of Paranormal Activity 3 (2011). It is the first installment not to star Katie Featherston as Katie, but she is referred to often. Most of the film involves the young 1988 Katie from the third film.
Happy Death Day is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner. It follows college student Tree Gelbman, who is murdered on the night of her birthday but begins reliving the day repeatedly, at which point she sets out to find the killer and stop her death.
Jessica Ann Rothenberg, better known as Jessica Rothe, is an American actress. After appearing in independent films and on stage, her breakthrough came with playing Tree Gelbman in the comedy slasher film Happy Death Day (2017) and its 2019 sequel, which established her as a scream queen.
Happy Death Day 2U is a 2019 American science fiction black comedy slasher film written and directed by Christopher Landon. A sequel to 2017's Happy Death Day, it stars Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Suraj Sharma, and Steve Zissis. The film again follows Tree Gelbman (Rothe), now trapped in the same time loop of a different iteration of her world. Jason Blum again serves as a producer through his Blumhouse Productions company.
Freaky is a 2020 American slasher comedy film directed by Christopher Landon, from a screenplay by Michael Kennedy and Landon, and starring Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, and Alan Ruck. A twist on Freaky Friday, the film centers on a teenage girl who unintentionally switches bodies with a middle-aged male serial killer. Jason Blum serves as a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner.
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin is a 2021 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by William Eubank, written by Christopher Landon, and produced by Jason Blum and series creator Oren Peli. Serving as the seventh installment of the Paranormal Activity series, the film stars Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Henry Ayres-Brown, and Tom Nowicki, and follows a group who attempt to make a documentary on an Amish community, only for them to discover the horrific secrets the town holds.
Scream VI is a 2023 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is the sequel to Scream (2022) and the sixth installment in the Scream film series. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Roger L. Jackson, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Hayden Panettiere, and Courteney Cox, all reprising their roles from previous installments, with Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving joining the ensemble cast. The plot follows a new Ghostface killer, who begins targeting the survivors of the Woodsboro murders in New York City.
In a 1985 interview, Landon claimed he ate lunch alone at Collingswood High School, that he never had a date as a teen-ager because no Christian father in the town would allow his daughter to go out with a Jew.