EXCLUSIVE: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark filmmaker André Øvredal is returning to the horror space with an untitled project at Paramount Pictures.
Former Warner Bros production executive Walter Hamada is producing via his production company 18hz, as part of his first-look deal with Paramount, alongside It screenwriter Gary Dauberman via Coin Operated.
Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess penned the script which has a logline that’s being kept secret.
Hamada also is producing Primate for the studio; that film is in production. Dauberman’s feature take of Stephen King’s classic novel Salem’s Lot recently streamed on Max. Dauberman penned several installments in The Conjuring series including The Nun and Annabelle franchises. His feature directorial debut was Annabelle Comes Home. Dauberman’s feature take of King’s It grossed $1.1 billion.
Øvredal also directed the movies Mortal and Amblin’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was a cash cow for Lionsgate-owned CBS Films, opening to $20.9M in August 2019 and legging out to $68.9M domestic and $104.5M worldwide. Øvredal is represented by WME, Industry Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson Teller.
Paramount has Smile 2, the sequel to its hit 2022 horror movie, opening on October 18. Smile, which was pivoted from Paramount+ to a theatrical release, went on to gross $105.9M at the domestic box office and $217.4M worldwide.
Hamada first signed a multi-year production pact with Paramount Pictures back in November 2022. During his run at New Line, he shepherded the Conjuring and It movies, and later the DC features at Warner Bros.