F. Javier Gutierrez, who is attached to direct the long-gestating THE CROW reboot starring Luke Evans, has closed a deal to direct the third movie in THE RING franchise for Paramount and producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, according to The Wrap.
Gore Verbinski helmed 2002's THE RING, a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film RING, which itself was based on the novel "Ring" by Kôji Suzuki (who also helped co-write both film versions), and focused on a mysterious cursed videotape that contains a seemingly random series of disturbing images. After watching the tape, the viewer receives a phone call in which a girl's voice announces that the viewer will die in seven days. The 2005 sequel was helmed by Hideo Nakata, director of the original Japanese film on which the American versions were based.
Gutierrez has been a sought-after filmmaker since he gained industry attention for writing and directing the Spanish-language sci-fi thriller BEFORE THE FALL (“Tres Dias”), which won several international honors. He has been attached to direct THE CROW reboot for Relativity and the Weinstein Company for several years now, though the project remains in development and has no start date.
Are you down for checking out a third film in THE RING series? I dug the first two flicks so I have high hopes for another entry, especially with Gutierrez at the helm. Sounds promising.