After a heated bidding war, Sony Pictures has acquired an untitled sci-fi thriller from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the duo behind the acclaimed 2018 horror A Quiet Place, who are set to write, direct and produce their original script, according to Variety.
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The plot details are being kept under wraps for the project and will mark the duo’s third feature directorial effort after making their debut on 2015’s Nightlight and last year’s well-received slasher Haunt.
“After A Quiet Place we knew we had a responsibility to reinvest back into the ecosystem of original ideas,” Beck and Woods said in a statement. “We are so proud to have partnered with a studio that believes in a theatrical landscape that looks for launching new stories. Our producing team at Raimi Productions helped foster our vision for this film as directors before we introduced the spec script to the town. Sam Raimi is not only one of our heroes, but one of the only filmmakers to successfully master both independent film and the studio blockbuster. We can’t imagine a more perfect mentor to help us transition into big studio filmmaking.”
The duo are set to produce the project under their newly-formed banner Beck/Woods along with horror icon Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) and Zainab Azizi, who will produce through the Raimi Productions banner alongside Debbie Liebling. The untitled thriller will mark a reunion between Beck, Woods and Raimi after the two wrote and directed an upcoming episode of Quibi’s 50 States of Fright.
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“Raimi Productions is proud to be teaming up with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods,” Raimi said in a statement. “They have exceeded all expectations in my experience with them at Quibi and we have the utmost confidence in their brilliant story. I am honored to once again be joining forces with our partners at Sony Pictures. We have a wild and thrilling blockbuster that we can’t wait to share with the world.”
The thriller marks the third film that Raimi Productions has been attached to in the past year, including Alexandre Aja’s hit monster disaster film Crawl at Paramount Pictures, which grossed over $91.5 million on a $13.5 million budget and sits with an 83% “Certified Fresh” rating from critics on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
