Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin signs first-look deal with New Line Cinema

Sam Raimi was so impressed by Lee Cronin’s feature directorial debut, the 2019 horror film The Hole in the Ground, that he not only hired Cronin to contribute to his short-lived anthology series 50 States of Fright, he also gave the filmmaker the chance to write and direct the latest entry in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise. In addition to Raimi’s production company, that movie came to us from Warner Bros. Pictures and their subsidiary New Line Cinema. Obviously the studio executives liked what Cronin did with Evil Dead Rise, because The Hollywood Reporter has now broken the news that Cronin is teaming up with John Keville and Macdara Kelleher of Wild Atlantic Pictures to form a genre-focused production company called Doppelgängers, which has secured a first-look deal with New Line Cinema!

Evil Dead Rise made $147 million at the worldwide box office for Warner Bros. / New Line. The first project in development as part of their new deal with Cronin is a horror thriller called Thaw.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that, “The Doppelgängers banner will develop genre-focused feature film and television projects for Cronin to write and direct. Cronin will also produce alongside Keville and Kelleher, whose credits range from R-rated comedy Cocaine Bear to acclaimed art house fantasy The Green Knight, which starred Dev Patel.“

Keville also produced The Hole in the Ground. Cronin provided the following statement about the decision to form a company with Keville and Kelleher: “Aligned in our hunger and ambition to create striking stories for wide audiences, we decided to seize the opportunity to formalize our partnership with this new venture.” As for the New Line Cinema deal, “Following a wonderful journey working on Evil Dead Rise, the brilliant team at New Line Cinema have offered us the perfect home for the movies we want to bring to life on the big screen. We couldn’t be more thrilled to continue building our relationship with them.“

Keville and Kelleher sent out a joint statement: “Lee is an inventive creator who always strives to engage audiences with his character driven stories. We are thrilled to be building Doppelgängers around his vision and are excited to forge relationships with the most ambitious writers and directors. Collectively, we want Doppelgängers to become a destination for the very best storytellers.“

Are you glad to hear Lee Cronin has secured a first-look deal with New Line Cinema? Share your thoughts on this news by leaving a comment below.

In the meantime, Raimi is making sure the Evil Dead franchise will continue beyond Cronin’s contribution. It was recently announced that Sébastien Vaniček will direct the next entry.