Thanks to the enormous successes of FURIOUS 7 and AQUAMAN, you might expect James Wan to stick around in the realm of big-budget movies, but the director hasn't forgotten his horror roots as his next film is slated to be an original horror/thriller for New Line Cinema. Well, James Wan took to Instagram to announce that principal photography on the project has officially kicked off, as well as reveal the title of the new film – MALIGNANT. "First day of principal photography on the 10th feature film of my career," Wan wrote in the post. "MALIGNANT is the official title. Really excited for this one." Me too.
Unfortunately, we don't know all that much about MALIGNANT at the moment as James Wan has remained tight-lipped on the project. "There’s been a bit of speculation as to what my next project is… all I’ll say is, I’m super excited to go back to my indie roots with this hard-R thriller," Wan has previously teased. "An original horror idea (not a reboot/remake or anything based on existing IP) with old school, practical effects and no giant, blue screen sets. That’s all I’ll say for now." We do know that MALIGNANT will star Annabelle Wallis (THE MUMMY), who also starred in ANNABELLE, the first spin-off in THE CONJURING franchise, as well as George Young, an up-and-coming actor best known for his role in Containment, a limited-series which aired on The CW.
I've been a big-fan of James Wan since the early days of SAW, and count INSIDIOUS and THE CONJURING among my favourite horror films, so the thought of the director returning to his roots once again is very welcome indeed. Can't wait for MALIGNANT!