Lionsgate has acquired rights to the project “Down a Dark Hall,” which Rodrigo Cortes (Buried, Red Lights) will direct. The film is based on the 1974 young adult best-seller from author Lois Duncan (“I Know What You Did Last Summer”). Screenwriter Michael Goldbach wrote the original adaptation for the screen, and Chris Sparling (Sea of Trees, Buried) has come aboard to also write on the film.
Stephenie Meyer, author of the “Twilight” novels, and Meghan Hibbett will produce via their Fickle Fish Films along with Temple Hill Entertainment’s Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Meyer optioned the book last year and brought on Goldbach to write the adaptation.
The supernatural suspense novel follows Kit Gordy, the newest student at the exclusive Blackwood Boarding School. It is the opportunity of a lifetime, but Kit quickly realizes something strange is happening behind its walls as she confronts the darkly seductive powers of Blackwood’s headmistress and comes face to face with the supernatural powers that could make her great or destroy her.
Fickle Fish Films recently produced The Host as well as the film adaptation of the New York Times best-selling author Shannon Hale’s Austenland. Meyer previously produced both parts of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which were distributed by Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment label.
Temple Hill Entertainment most recently produced Fox’s critically-acclaimed hit film The Fault in Our Stars. Other credits include Dear John, Safe Haven, Everything Must Go and The Nativity Story.
Erik Feig, Co-President of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Gillian Bohrer, Lionsgates EVP of Production & Development, and James Myers, Creative Executive at Lionsgate, are overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.
