<P> Prior to this film Christopher Landon worked on three movies in the Paranormal Activity series and enjoyed the chance to do something more lighthearted . He noted the comparisons in the script to various 80s movies stating "When I read the first script, I was like,' Wow, I can actually make a gory R - rated version of The Goonies and Gremlins or even Monster Squad"' At the same time Landon noted that he wanted the film to not be a complete throwback and wanted to modernize the genre some, a task he compared to a simmiar issue with Disturbia in trying to mordernize a Hitchcockian thriller . </P> <P> Although initially set for a March 13 2015 date, it was eventually pushed back to October 30 2015. k </P> <P> Principal photography began on May 8, 2014 in Los Angeles . </P> <P> In July 2015, Paramount announced that it had struck a deal with AMC Entertainment and Cineplex Entertainment to make Scouts Guide and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension available digitally, 17 days after they dropped below 300 theaters, as part of a larger experiment, and asked other theaters to join in . In return, Paramount would share an undisclosed portion of proceeds of the VOD revenues . Per industry sources, Paramount is gave participating exhibitors an estimated 2 - 4% share of the studio's digital revenue made between the time the film dropped below 300 theaters and 90 days after its opening date . Participants in Paramount's formula include AMC, Canada's Cineplex, National Amusements, and Alamo Drafthouse . But many circuits, including Regal Cinema, Cinemark, and Carmike, rejected Paramount's offer to release in VOD . This meant that both films would only go out in roughly 1,350 North American theaters when opening on October 23 and 30--compared to 2,883 theaters for Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and well north of 3,000 theaters for each of the previous three PA installments . The impetus for Paramount's experimentation with this approach, with these two - younger demographic genre movies--which many have deemed box office failures--is the theatrical failure of MGM's Hot Tub Time Machine 2 . Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, said: "There is no question that we are going to do less theatrically, but I believe we will make it up digitally . This is about the long - term health of the business, so there is not this long period of time when a consumer can't watch a movie ." </P>

Where was scout's guide to the zombie apocalypse filmed