As you might have noticed, “found footage” movies are pretty popular these days.

It all began with The Blair Witch Project before movies like [REC], Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, and any sequels or remakes continued to prove the success of such an outrageous style of filmmaking. Some people don’t have the stomach for these them park-worthy adventures, but for the rest of us, most of the movies can be a whole lot of fun. Just like first person shooter video games, these movies make you feel like you’re right there in the middle of whatever madness is unfolding, and they’re without doubt an effectively entertaining experience to behold.

Most of these films have been made on incredibly low-budgets and without any top-tier actors or directors involved, but now it appears that this is about to change.

It’s being reported that Roland Emmerich, known for his massive summer blockbuster fare in titles such as Independence Day, Godzilla, 10,000 B.C., and 2012, is about to begin filming on [what was] a secret project called The Zone. The movie’s plot is unknown at the moment, but it is said that it will also involve a a small $5 million budget, a cast of unknown actors, and will take place during an alien invasion.

This wouldn’t be the first word of a found footage project involving aliens. After Paranormal Activity, director Oren Peli decided to hand the reigns off to another for the sequel so that he could make a similar movie involving aliens called Area 51.

Emmerich has made some good fun movies in the past, most notably Independence Day, but it’s all pretty much been downhill since then. The director is also used to budgets in excess of $100 million. So might his stepping away from those massive movies to try something much smaller using a popular method of filmmaking lead to a better final product for Emmerich, or does this too have disaster written all over it?

The Zone is written by Guillaume Tunzini, and Loucas George (Hmmm. No relation…I think) is producing the movie.

[Source: Heat Vision]