Vicious: Dakota Fanning, Bryan Bertino horror film removed from Paramount release schedule

Dakota Fanning (The Watchers) and The Strangers director Bryan Bertino are teaming up for a horror movie called Vicious, which is coming our way from Paramount Pictures… but we don’t know when Paramount is going to decide to show it to us. Originally set to receive a theatrical release from Paramount in August of 2025 (August 8th, to be exact), Vicious was pushed up to February 28th – but now, Deadline reports that the film has been pulled off of Paramount’s release schedule completely. They say, “The studio is looking to find a better date for the film.”

Scripted by Bertino, Vicious sees Fanning taking on the role of a young woman who is left a strange present by a late-night visitor, and quickly realizes she is fighting for her life after slipping down a disturbing rabbit hole contained inside the gift.

Fanning is joined in the cast by Devyn Nekoda (Scream VI), Mary McCormack (The West Wing), Rachel Blanchard (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things), Klea Scott (Millennium), and Emily Mitchell (Ordinary Angels).

An Atlas Independent production, the film is being produced by Richard Suckle, with Melinda Whitaker serving as executive producer.

Bertino made his feature directorial debut with the 2008 horror film The Strangers and has since followed that up with three more horror films: 2014’s Mockingbird, which he co-wrote with Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, 2016’s The Monster, and 2020’s The Dark and the Wicked. He also wrote the initial screenplay for The Strangers: Prey at Night, which got a rewrite from Ben Ketai and ended up being directed by Johannes Roberts. While Bertino focuses on Vicious, the Strangers franchise is continuing on without him. Director Renny Harlin recently shot an entire trilogy of Strangers movies at the same time, and so far only The Strangers: Chapter 1 has made its way out into the world. We’re still waiting to hear when The Strangers: Chapter 2 and The Strangers: Chapter 3 are going to be released. Currently, they’re sitting in limbo with Vicious.

What do you think of Paramount moving Vicious around (and removing it from) their release schedule? Let us know by leaving a comment below.