Screen Gems and Playstation Productions have signed “Annabelle: Creation” director/writer duo David F. Sandberg and Gary Dauberman to a film adaptation of the horror video game “Until Dawn,” studio insiders confirmed to TheWrap.
The project marks Sandberg’s return to horror after directing the 2019 DC film “Shazam!” and its 2023 sequel “Fury of the Gods.” Sandberg broke into Hollywood with his short horror film “Closet Space,” which caught the attention of New Line Cinema and got him his feature debut, “Lights Out” before making “Annabelle: Creation” as part of New Line’s “Conjuring” franchise.
Released in 2015 and featuring a voice cast led by Rami Malek and Hayden Panettiere, “Until Dawn” is a horror game in which players take control of eight different people who are stuck in a mountain forest and attacked by bloodthirsty creatures. The decisions made by the player determine how many of the eight characters survive until they are rescued at dawn, and the game’s autosave feature prevents the player from going back and changing their decisions.
Dauberman will work off a script written for “Until Dawn” by Blair Butler and produce through his Coin Operated banner. Sandberg is also producing through Mangata with his producing partner Lotta Losten. Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan are also producing.
Screen Gems’ Dan Primozic negotiated the deal on behalf of the studio with Ashley Brucks and Michael Bitar overseeing the project.
Sandberg is repped by CAA, The Gotham Group, Narrative, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. Butler is repped by Industry Entertainment, CAA, and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler, Feldman & Clark. Dauberman is repped by CAA, Industry Entertainment, and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan. Lee is repped by CAA and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
The deal was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
