The James Wan-produced horror film Lights Out made almost $150 million on a budget just under $5 million when it was released in 2016, so it was no surprise when New Line Cinema immediately greenlit a sequel. What’s surprising is that, seven years later, Lights Out 2 has still never made it into production. Collider recently hosted a screening of Lights Out with director David F. Sandberg in attendance, and during that event he talked a bit about the unmade sequel.
First, here’s a reminder of what was going on in Lights Out: When Rebecca left home, she thought she left her childhood fears behind. Growing up, she was never really sure of what was and wasn’t real when the lights went out… and now her little brother, Martin, is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that had once tested her sanity and threatened her safety. A frightening entity with a mysterious attachment to their mother, Sophie, has reemerged. But this time, as Rebecca gets closer to unlocking the truth, there is no denying that all their lives are in danger… once the lights go out.
The film starred Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello, and Alicia Vela-Bailey.
Sandberg was on board to direct Lights Out 2 and would have been working from a screenplay by the first film’s writer Eric Heisserer. He confirmed to Collider that a draft of the script was completed, and “In that draft, Martin was still young, and he’s not young anymore. He’s like a man now, you know. No, but she was sort of attacking a new family, but then this cast got involved to sort of help out with that. Because, I mean, you kind of have to do that. Because the fun thing with a horror movie is the discovery when the haunting starts, and you don’t know what’s going on. So, if she just comes back to this cast, like, ‘Well, yeah, we know who Diana is. We’ve dealt with her before.’ So if you have a different family at first, then they can go through all that, but then you can have this cast come in and sort of, you know, be the experts to help defeat.“
I would have loved to see Sandberg make Lights Out 2. While that project has been gathering dust, he has gone on to direct Annabelle: Creation, Shazam!, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Would you like to see Lights Out 2 go into production after all this time? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.