'Insidious 3': What To Expect In The Sequel, Three New Surprises In The 'Insidious' Franchise

The two "Insidious" films had offered viewers with supernatural thrills mixed with domestic drama and mystery. Now the spooky sequel of this haunted house tale returns in "Insidious: Chapter 3" and it has three new surprises in store for veiwers.

One: New Director

Indiewire put into logic the third installment of the horror movie "Insidious." The first movie earned $97 million worldwide, and "Insidious 2" earned $161 million wordwide, claiming the number one spot in the box office in September last year. So logically, a third chapter should follow.

Plans of a third chapter were announced last fall however, "Insidious 2" director James Wan backed out. He has stepped away from the horror genre for the time being to direct "Fast & Furious 7." That leaves Leigh Whannel, Wan's friend and writer of the previous "Insidious" installments, to not only write the sequel but direct it too.

Whannel recently penned and starred in "Cooties," which debuted at Sundance. He also co-created the "Saw" franchise with Wan.

"Insidious: Chapter 3" will be Whannel's directorial debut as he has only been either writing for films or starring in one of them. In "Cooties", Whannel starred as Doug.

James Wan couldn't be more excited for his friend and expressed this on his Twitter account.

"Wow, @LWhannel is going to outdo me by doing all three roles - writing, directing and acting - in his first film as director!"

Two: New Cast?

For "Insidious 2," Wan and Whannell reunited with mainstay cast Rose Byrne (Renai Lambert), Patrick Wilson (Josh Lambert), Barbara Hershey (Lorraine Lambert), and Lin Shaye (Elise Rainer). But for "Insidious 3" it is unclear if they will return. Whannel however will reprise his role as Spec, Rainer's paranormal assistant.

YouTube vidoes have been circulating showing Lin Shaye in the third installment but there has been no official trailer yet for the new chapter.

Three: Release Date Is Set

According to Variety, Focus Features has locked a release date for "Insidious: Chapter 3".

It will be released on April 3, 2015 in the U.S. Entertainment One will distribute the film in Canada, the UK and Spain while Sony to the rest of the world.

Jason Bloom and his Bloomhouse Productions, which also produced the two previous "Insidious" films, will remain producers for the third chapter.

Executive producers are Steven Schneider, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Peter Schlessel, Lia Buman and Xavier Marchand.

Shooting of "Insidious: Chapter 3" is scheduled to start on July 7 this year.