Amblin Partners has picked up an untitled horror pitch from Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, the duo behind 2019’s darkly comedic thriller Villains.
Berk and Olsen will write and direct the project, which will be produced by Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell. The latter pair have a first-look deal with Amblin via their Safehouse Pictures banner.
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Plot details are being held deep in a vault, but the project is described as being “social horror.”
Safehouse’s Matt Schwartz will serve as executive producer.
Amblin’s president of production Jeb Brody and creative exec John Buderwitz will oversee for the company.
Harold worked on John Wick Chapter 3 and is acting as showrunner on Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi-centered Star Wars series. Tunnell was a producer in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which Harold wrote. They recently set up at Amblin an untitled show choir project, based on the inspiring true story of school teacher Lynette Carr-Hicks and her award-winning show choir Rhythm of the Knight.
Berk and Olsen’s Villains starred Bill Skarsgard and Maika Monroe as lovebirds on the lam who come across an isolated house, only to find a young girl chained in the basement. When the parents, played by Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick, come home, things go down hill from there. The movie premiered at the 2019 edition of SXSW to strong reviews and was released by Gunpowder & Sky.
Berk and Olsen are repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, and attorney Andrew Hurwitz.
