Movies
Malevolent Entities Will Arise as ‘Saw’ Creators Reteam for ‘Insidious’!
Some exciting news was reported here on Bloody Disgusting back on January 20 as we were among the first to tell you that Saw co-creator James Wan would be getting behind the camera for Insidious (formerly The Further), a new horror thriller being produced by Jason Blum (Blumhouse), Oren Peli (director of Paranormal Activity, Area 51) and Steven Schneider (Room 101) in the first of many films (read on for more info). Variety confirmed this news adding that Wan will be reteaming with Saw co-creator and long time friend Leigh Whannell, who will pen the screenplay. Shooting begins in Los Angeles this spring. Variety doesn’t have the plot breakdown, but we do: “A young family makes the terrifying discovery that the body of their comatose boy has become a magnet for malevolent entities, while his consciousness lies trapped in the dark and insidious realm known as The Further.” Read on for more on the five-picture deal.
From Variety:
““Paranormal Activity” team Oren Peli, Jason Blum and Steven Schneider have inked a five-picture deal with leading Canadian distrib Alliance Films to finance and produce low-budget genre pics.
Pact kicks off with horror title “Insidious,” from “Saw” creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Wan beings lensing in Los Angeles this spring from a script by Whannell.
Alliance will release the films in Canada, the U.K. and Spain. CAA, which brokered the deal, will team with Alliance in repping domestic rights.
Stuart Ford’s IM Global will handle international sales and will shop “Insidious” to foreign buyers at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin. Domestic rights are still available.
” ‘Paranormal’ taught us to do more with less, and this fund embodies that model. We are particularly thrilled to kick off the fund with James and Leigh,” Blum said.
Wan said he and Whannell were drawn to work with Peli, Blum and Schneider because “of their passion for genre films and having the creative control to make auteur-driven pictures.”
Wan directed the original “Saw,” as well as co-writing with Whannell.
Storyline for “Insidious” is being kept under wraps, other than Wan saying “Leigh wrote a fantastic script that took a haunted house movie with all the usual conventions and twisted it on its head.”
Last fall, Blum, Peli and Schneider made box office history with “Paranormal Activity.” Film was directed by Peli and produced by Blum for under $15,000. Schneider exec produced.
DreamWorks (then owned by Paramount) picked up rights to “Paranormal,” with a particular interest in remaking the film. Par ultimately decided to release the film as it was.
“Paranormal” grossed $107.9 million domestically and north of $70 million overseas for a worldwide total of nearly $178 million to date. Film’s strong international showing helped to further chip away the perception that horror doesn’t travel well beyond the U.S. “Paranormal” has yet to be released in Japan and Italy.
Blum and Alliance are confident that the same appetite will exist for “Insidious,” and the four other titles called for under their deal.
“I’ve known Jason for many years now,” Alliance prexy Charles Layton said. “While ‘Paranormal’ may have been an industry surprise, his success is not a surprise at all. We’re very pleased to be working with Oren, Steven and Jason now and for the long term.”
Deal is a reunion of sorts for Layton, Blum and Ford.
“I am very happy to be back in business with Stuart and Charles, old colleagues from my days at Miramax,” Blum said. ”
Chris Columbus (Gremlins – writer, Home Alone – director) is headed back into the director’s chair for Thursday Murder Club, Amblin’s upcoming feature film adaptation of the same-titled novel written by Richard Osman. Variety first reported the news this morning.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but rather a star-studded murder-mystery. Think Rian Johnson’s Knives Out… only this particular murder-mystery is set in a retirement community!
Variety details, “The book, released in 2020, tells the story of four septuagenarian friends who live in a retirement community and solve cold cases for fun. When a shady property developer is found dead, the four find themselves in the middle of their first live crime.”
Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley are “being eyed” to lead the cast!
Richard Osman’s 2020 novel was such a hit that it launched a franchise. Follow-up The Man Who Died Twice followed in 2021, with The Bullet That Missed coming along in 2022. And then there was The Last Devil to Die in 2023, with a fifth book in the series expected in 2025.
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