After acquiring the rights to the forthcoming graphic novel, Paramount Animation has partnered with The Conjuring spin-off universe scribe Gary Dauberman and Game Night‘s Mark Perez to produce and pen an adaptation of Stray Dogs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Slated for a 2021 release date by Image Comics, the plot for Stray Dogs is currently being kept close to the chest but it’s being described as “Silence of the Lambs meets Lady and the Tramp,” with Dauberman stating that the plan is to really dive into the terror nature of the source material.
“So much of what makes horror work is taking something innocent and twisting it into something scary,” Dauberman stated. “Like a doll in Annabelle. Or a clown in It. And that’s what we want to do inStray Dogs – take animation and twist it into something terrifying by using it to explore a really dark story. For me, the project combines a lot of my passions: animation, horror and… well, dogs.”
Much like last year’s loose Conjuring spin-off The Curse of La Llorona, Dauberman is attached to the adaptation in solely a producer capacity via his Coin Operated production banner while Perez, who broke out with the 2018 Jason Bateman-led ensemble dark comedy, is set to script the film.
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Dauberman first broke out in film with his work on the first installment in the Annabelle series and would go on to pen the screenplay for its 2017 prequel and 2019 sequel, with which he made his directorial debut, and also co-wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed 2017 adaptation of It with Cary Fukunaga and Chase Palmer before writing the follow-up on his own. He is currently set to return to the world of Stephen King with a new adaptation of Salem’s Lot, which he will write and direct, as well as being attached to an English-language remake of the South Korean zombie hit Train to Busan.
Following Game Night, Perez has already begun lining up multiple new projects including the Netflix action comedy Movie Night with Bateman set to direct and John Cena (Bumblebee) set to star as well as Superworld, his second upcoming reunion with Bateman who is attached to direct and produce it for Warner Bros.
(Photo Credits: Getty Images)
