Earlier this year, we learned that Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg is re-teaming with Annabelle: Creation screenwriter Gary Dauberman for a movie based on the horror video game Until Dawn. Production began in August, and now Sandberg and his wife / frequent collaborator Lotta Losten have both taken to Instagram to announce that filming on the video game movie has wrapped!
As The Hollywood Reporter previously noted, first released in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game that follows eight friends and frenemies who are brought together a remote mountain retreat. With live or die scenarios featuring a mysterious killer, cannibalistic wendigos, a cable car, and a long-ago mining cave-in that reverberates into the present day, the members of the group must fight through their fear if they all hope to make it through the night in one piece. The game proved to be a surprise hit with critics and received numerous gaming awards nominations.
Sandberg and Dauberman haven’t revealed what exactly will be going on in their movie version of Until Dawn, but the project is described as being an “R-rated love letter to the horror genre, centering on an ensemble cast.” Dauberman’s script is a rewrite of a previous draft by Blair Butler, who wrote the vampire movie The Invitation. Judging by the blood splatter seen in Sandberg and Losten’s pictures, the chances of this getting an R rating do look promising.
Until Dawn is set up at Sony’s Screen Gems, where Dauberman has a first-look deal as part of the plan to “rebuild Screen Gems, Sony’s division focused on lower-budgeted fare, into a more productive label, with horror being a top focus.” Dauberman is producing the film through his company Coin Operated while Sandberg and Lotta Losten produce through their Mångata shingle. Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are also producing. Ashley Brucks and Michael Bitar are overseeing the project for Screen Gems.
The film’s cast includes Ella Rubin of The Idea of You and the upcoming Fear Street: Prom Queen, Odessa A’zion of the recent Hellraiser reboot and the sitcom Fam, Michael Cimino of Love, Victor and Annabelle Comes Home, and Ji-young Yoo of Expats and Smoking Tigers. His fellow new additions are Belmont Cameli of Along for the Ride and Saved by the Bell and Maia Mitchell of The Fosters and Good Trouble. Peter Stormare (Fargo, John Wick: Chapter 2) is also in there, reprising his role from the video game.
Are you a fan of the Until Dawn video game, and are you glad to hear that the movie adaptation has wrapped filming? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.