Paramount Home Entertainment has set a Dec. 29 release date for the standard DVD and Blu-ray disc editions of its runaway supernatural hit Paranormal Activity. Written and directed by newcomer Oren Peli for an estimated budget of $15,000, Paranormal Activity has grossed over a $100 million domestically and is nominated for a People’s Choice award.

The DVD and Blu-ray editions are shockingly low on extras, but do include an unrated version of the film complete with alternate ending. Fans who registered with the film’s website earlier this month will also find their names listed on the movie’s credit reel.

Why is this guy still following us, Katie?

Peli is currently at work on his second film Area 51. Budgeted at $5 million, Area 51 exposes the “found footage” captured by three teens during their break in into the notorious Area 51 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. A copy of the script was accidentally leaked two weeks ago.

Look at this picture. Shake your laptop. You have just seen Peli's new 'Area 51'

The $100 million success of the supernatural thriller Paranormal Activity finds its director Oren Peli with his head in the clouds. Peli, who shot Activity for $15,000 at his home, has begun production on the $5 million budgeted Area 51, his new shaky-cam take on aliens and government cover-up. The story centers on three teenagers and the footage they film while exploring the mysterious Area 51 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Peli is keeping tight-lipped over the details, telling Variety that:

I’d rather not say anything about ‘Area 51′ except that I am very pleased to be working with the same team who stood by me for the two or three years it took ‘Paranormal Activity’ to get into theaters.

Unfortunately for Peli, the folks at LatinoReview.com also enjoy uncovering mysteries and have dug up the Area 51 script. To examine portions of the highly classified document, click here.

Oren "My Hands Can't Stop Shaking" Peli

Eli Roth's 'Cotton'

Looks like horror makers have found a new weapon of choice: the shaky-cam. Next year will see a spike in hand-held horror projects, including Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) and Strike Entertainment’s (Dawn of the Dead) exorcism tale Cotton and Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment’s similarly plotted The Vatican Tapes. Can these “docu-drama’ inspired flicks mimic the box office success of Paramount Pictures Paranormal Activity? Depends on the marketing campaigns.

The Blair Witch Marketing Project

Ten years ago, The Blair Witch Project successfully intertwined the cinema verite approach with innovative marketing to scare up over a $100 mil at the box office. Imitators followed of course, but lacked the imagination, in story and promotion, necessary to match the Blair Witch’s success. Not surprisingly, the style was pretty much abandoned. Until now.

The First 'Cloverfield' Ads

Crafty marketing campaigns are shaking things up again. J.J. Abrams sci-fi/monster flick Cloverfield gobbled up over $170 million worldwide. Peter Jackson’s aliens-meet-apartheid film District 9 broke free with over $200 mil worldwide. And, in just seven weeks, Paranormal Activity has grossed $100 million in the U.S. alone. Even the inexpensive zombie flick Quarantine (based on the critically acclaimed Spanish shaky-cam frightener Rec) ate up over $35 mil during its run last Halloween.

Eli Roth and Strike Entertainment’s Cotton is directed by Daniel Stamm (A Necessary Death) and employs shaky-cam techniques to capture an evangelical minister’s last exorcism in documentary fashion. It’s an interesting concept for sure. But, Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment have done Roth one better by roping in Oscar-winning documentarian James Marsh (Man on Wire) to direct The Vatican Tapes. I’s unclear what may have possessed Marsh to take the gig, but his expertise in the Doc genre will surely benefit the project, a “docu-drama” centered on the unholy events that occur after tapes from a botched exorcism come to light.

'Vatican Tapes' Director & Oscar Winner James Marsh (On Right)