We've been keeping an eye on a man-eating spider project from BAIT director Kimble Rendall for almost five years now, from when it was first announced in early 2013, to when it started casting in the summer of 2015, and when a trailer dropped online in August of 2016. For all those years, the project was going by the title THE NEST 3D or NEST 3D, but when it makes its way out into the world next year it will be known as GUARDIANS OF THE TOMB… A title which I find kind of off-putting, since it sounds like an INDIANA JONES / TOMB RAIDER knock-off rather than a "nature run amok" creature feature.
Regardless of my misgivings about the title, sales company Arclight Films just had great success GUARDIANS OF THE TOMB at the American Film Market, landing the film distribution with Gravitas Ventures in North America and Signature Entertainment in the UK.
Grand Canal Pictures and China Film Group will be giving GUARDIANS OF THE TOMB a wide 3D release in China on January 19th, 2018.
Li Bingbing, Kellan Lutz, Kelsey Grammer, and Wu Chun star in the film, which follows
a team of scientists who innocently stumble upon a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China – unearthing a 2000-year-old nightmare. After losing a colleague in the ancient labyrinth, the group must battle their way through a swarm of deadly, man-eating funnel web spiders and discover the secret behind the insects’ power and unusual intelligence.
Rendall wrote the screenplay with Paul Staheli. The film was produced by Deng Shuo, Gary Hamilton, Ying Ye, and Mark Lazarus.
We'll let you know when the North American and UK release dates have been announced. I'm looking forward to seeing this movie, despite the title change, as they had me sold on it as soon as they put "man-eating spiders" and the name "Kelsey Grammer" in the same press release.