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. ”
Movies
‘The Exorcism’ Trailer – Russell Crowe Gets Possessed in Meta Horror Movie from Producer Kevin Williamson
Russell Crowe (The Pope’s Exorcist) is starring in a brand new meta possession horror movie titled The Exorcism, and Vertical has unleashed the official trailer this afternoon.
Vertical has picked up the North American rights to The Exorcism, which they’ll be bringing to theaters on June 7. Shudder is also on board to bring the film home later this year.
Joshua John Miller, who wrote 2015’s The Final Girls and also starred in films including Near Dark and And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird, directed The Exorcism.
Joshua John Miller also wrote the script with M.A. Fortin (The Final Girls). This one is personal for Miller, as his late father was the star of the best possession movie ever made.
Miller said in a statement this week, “The origins of the film stem from my childhood spent watching my father, Jason Miller, playing the doomed Father Karras flinging himself out a window at the climax of The Exorcist. If that wasn’t haunting enough on its own, my dad never shied away from telling me stories of just how “cursed” the movie was: the mysterious fires that plagued the production, the strange deaths, the lifelong injuries— the list went on and on. The lore of any “cursed film” has captivated me ever since.”
“With The Exorcism, we wanted to update the possession movie formula (“Heroic man rescues woman from forces she’s too weak and simple to battle herself!”) for a world where no one group owns goodness and decency over another,” he adds. “We were gifted with an extraordinary cast and creative team to tell a story about how we’re all vulnerable to darkness, to perpetuating it, if we fail to face our demons. The devil may retaliate, but what other choice do we have?”
The film had previously been announced under the title The Georgetown Project.
“The Exorcism follows Anthony Miller (Crowe), a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.”
Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water), Chloe Bailey (Praise This), Adam Goldberg (The Equalizer) and David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) also star.
Of particular note, Kevin Williamson (Scream, Sick) produced The Exorcism.
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