EXCLUSIVE: Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse Productions is moving forward on its third micro-budget franchise with Sinister 2, the sequel to last year’s horror pic that grossed more than $87M worldwide off of a $3M budget. The move to build the Sinister franchise follows in the footsteps of Blumhouse’s successes with the Paranormal Activity and Insidious series of ultra-low-budget genre hits.

I understand that all of the major behind-the-scenes players are back for Sinister 2, including creators Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. They wrote the original, which Derrickson also directed. Thinking is that they’ll write the sequel, and I hear director conversations are in the works. Blum will produce as will Derrickson. (Blumhouse and Derrickson are also working on a screen adaptation of Stephen King novella The Breathing Method.)

The original Sinister starred Ethan Hawke as a true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a supernatural nightmare. Cast and story for the sequel are being kept under wraps.

Alliance Films backed the original and eOne, which recently completed its acquisition of Alliance, will finance the sequel. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones of Automatik and Charles Layton, the former Alliance president, are exec producers. An international sales rep has yet to be identified — IM Global handled the first Sinister — but domestic distribution is likely to land at Lionsgate/Summit, which had the original.