Kong: King of the Apes is a CGI animated series produced by 41 Entertainment due to premiere in 2016 on Netflix. The series will be executive produced by Avi Arad, who has worked on a number of superhero movies, including Spider-Man, X-Men and Marvel’s Iron Man.

Plot teaser:

San Francisco, 2050: The famous prison island of Alcatraz has been converted into a Natural History and Marine Preserve, and Kong is its star attraction. But after escaping from the island, Kong is framed by a villain, who plans to unleash an army of giant robotic dinosaurs on the world. Soon, Kong is the only thing standing between the monsters and total destruction…

Tremors 5 is a 2016 American monster horror movie directed by Don Michael Paul (Half Past Dead; Lake Placid: The Final Chapter; Jarhead 2: Field of Fire) from a screenplay by John Whelpley (Tremors 3: Back to Perfection) and produced by Ogden Gavanski (The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Fire; Warm Bodies). This Universal 1440 Entertainment production is currently being filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Michael Gross returns as weapons enthusiast and expert subterranean creature hunter Burt Gummer with Jamie Kennedy (Scream series) as his new right hand man, tech-savvy Travis.

Glenn Ross, General Manager and Executive Vice President, Universal 1440 Entertainment, commented: “The Tremors franchise has built a reputation for high intensity fun and suspense and this instalment takes it to a whole new level”.

Press release:

The theatrical release of the original Tremors in 1990 combined suspense-filled action, sci-fi imagination and witty humor in the tale of a tiny Nevada town terrorized by giant man-eating worms known as Graboids.  The Graboids eventually morphed into even more deadly creatures known as Ass Blasters. In this all-new adventure that travels halfway around the world to South Africa, the Graboids and the Ass Blasters are not only bigger and badder but Tremors 5 introduces an additional unexpected surprise that raises the stakes in the battle for survival…

Leatherface as depicted in the disappointing Texas Chainsaw 3D

Leatherface is a 2016 prequel to the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to be directed by Frenchmen Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside; Livid; Among the Living) from a screenplay by Seth M. Sherwood for Millennium Films. Carl Mazzocone is producing alongside executive producers Christa Campbell and Lati Grobman. The film will apparently focus on Leatherface’s teenage years.

Plot teaser:

A young nurse is kidnapped by four violent teens who escape from a mental hospital and take her on a road trip from hell. Pursued by an equally deranged lawman out for revenge, one of these teens is destined for tragedy and horrors that will destroy his mind; molding him into the monster we now call Leatherface…

Comment:

Hopefully in the hands of Maury and Bustillo this new movie will be an improvement over the poorly-received Texas Chainsaw 3D. It couldn’t be any worse!

The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist is a forthcoming 2016 American horror film directed by James Wan from a screenplay by Chad and Carey Hayes, the pair that wrote the first film. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga will return to reprise their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

The Warner Bros. backed film had been scheduled for release on October 23, 2015, but it has been pushed back to June 10, 2016 in favour of an unnamed New Line horror film, according to Hollywood Deadline.

The plot will be based upon a series of poltergeist disturbances that apparently occurred in a council house in Enfield, North London, during late 1977. The strange case, the highlight of which was an eleven-year-old girl who repeatedly “levitated” above her bed, was widely reported in the British press and images such as those below later appeared in a book, This House is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist (1980).

IMDb

Toho’s Godzilla: Final Wars

The worldwide success of Gareth Edwards’ 2014 version of Godzilla (box office takings of $524,976,069) has led Toho to announce a new Japanese entry in their own franchise. At a press conference yesterday, Mr. Ueda [Taiji, Project Leader for Toho] said:

“With the success of the Hollywood version of Godzilla, we decided on a new [domestic] production. The screenplay is currently in development and we plan to start shooting next summer. We cannot announce cast or staff selections at this time. And we’re still deliberating whether to bring Godzilla to life via CGI or man-in-suit. This resurrection will be the centerpiece for ’16, and this is the force of our words.”

WH

The Blob is a forthcoming 2016 ‘re-imagining’ of the 1958 sci-fi horror movie of the same title to be directed by Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; Con Air; The Expendables 2) for Goldcrest Films. Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects; Halloween) had previously been attached to the project.

Jack H. Harris, the 96-year-old producer of the original 1958 film, who was recently awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is executive producing. Pascal Degove, Managing Director of Goldcrest Films said: “Simon West has a unique gift for blending cutting edge effects, awesome visual spectacle and a hint of humour. He’s the perfect choice to re-imagine The Blob and we’re so excited to be partnering with him.”

Producers Richard Saperstein and Brinan Witten waded in, “We grew up on The Blob. Simon West has a terrific and terrifying vision for bringing this iconic outer-space creature to life for a new generation. We’re grateful to Jack Harris for the opportunity to reintroduce a classic franchise…”

Simon West has added his own fervour to the project: “With modern CGI we can now fully realize the potential of The Blob. The world I create will be totally believable, immersive and emotionally satisfying. It’s a thrill to introduce an enduring icon to a wider audience and a whole new era of fans.”

Previously, a jokey sequel, Beware! The Blob aka Son of Blob, was directed by Larry Hagman in 1972 and a much-praised remake by Chuck Russell was released in 1988. Despite initial doubts, sci-fi/horror fans were pleasantly surprised and largely pleased by the ’80s incarnation of this gloopy alien monster but how will a CGI version fare?

The Strangers 2 is a belated forthcoming 2016 sequel to the creepy 2008 home invasion horror movie The Strangers.

Relativity Studios have announced that Swiss director Marcel Langenegger (Deception) is slated to direct from a screenplay by Ben Ketai, the writer and director of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. As yet, there is no word on casting.

CinemaBlend reports that the sequel will focus on a family taking a trip to a trailer park, with a troublesome teenage daughter due to soon go to boarding school. Only when they arrive, the man and his wife are found dead at the hands of Dollface, Pin-Up Girl and Man in the Mask, and the family then spends the rest of the night trying to survive the masked attackers…

IMDb

‘The wicked die young’

The Neon Demon is a 2016 US/French/Danish horror thriller directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive, Only God Forgives) with a screenplay co-written by NWR and Mary Laws.

It stars Elle Fanning (Maleficent), Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1), Karl Glusman, Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows), Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road), Desmond Harrington (Dexter) Christina Hendricks (Drive), and Keanu Reeves (Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Knock Knock; The Devil’s Advocate, Matrix series).

The film is being produced by Space Rocket Nation’s Lene Borglum in association with Wild Bunch and Gaumont and principal photography began on March 30, 2015.

Plot teaser:

When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has…

Filming locations:

Los Angeles, California

IMDb | Facebook

Gremlins is a forthcoming American comedy horror Warner Bros remake of the original 1984 hit that is currently back in development after a long period of gestation. No director has been assigned to the project – although fans will probably still hope that Joe Dante will make a return.

The writer of the original, Christopher Columbus, is producing and Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, The Last House on the Left remake, Goosebumps) has recently been announced as handling the screenplay. Steven Spielberg is executive producing.

Updates to follow…

Buy The Goonies + Gremlins + Gremlins 2 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com 

Blumhouse Productions is an American movie production company, founded in 2004 and run by Jason Blum. Blumhouse produces micro-budget and low-budget genre movies like the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister franchises.

According to various stories, the company’s model is to produce these movies independently and then release them wide through the studio system. They have a first-look deal with Universal Pictures. Blumhouse’s highly profitable credits began in 2009 with Paranormal Activity, which was made for just $15,000. The film was released by Paramount Pictures and grossed a whopping $193 million worldwide at the box office, even before disc , download and TV sales. The company produced the Paranormal sequels, Insidious which grossed over $97 million worldwide on a budget of $1.5m, and Sinister, which so far has grossed over $87 million worldwide on a budget of $3 million.

The company has worked with directors such as Scott Derrickson, James DeMonaco, Oren Peli, Scott Stewart and James Wan. Blumhouse’s films include its first for Universal — The Purge, Insidious: Chapter Two, and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones ($90.9 million).

For Halloween 2012, the company opened the Blumhouse of Horrors, an interactive haunted house experience in Downtown Los Angeles. In 2015, they published The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City.

Buy The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares from Amazon.com

Select filmography and profit ratios:

Paranormal Activity (2009)

budget $15,000, box office $193 million

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

budget $3 million, box office $177.5 million

Insidious (2011)

budget $1.5 million, box office $97 million

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

budget $5 million, box office $207 million

Sinister (2012)

budget $3 million, box office $77 million

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

budget $5 million, box office $140.8 million

The Bay (2012)

budget unavailable, box office $1,545,308 million

Dark Skies (2013)

budget $3.5 million, box office $26.4 million

The Lords of Salem (2013)

budget $1.5 million, box office $1.1 million

The Purge (2013)

budget $3 million, box office $89,3 million

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

budget $5 million, box office $161.9 million

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)

budget $5 million, box office $90.9 million

Oculus (2014)

budget $5 million, box office $44 million

13 Sins (2014)

budget unavailable, box office $13,809

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

budget $9 million, box office $110.6 million

Mockingbird (2014)

figures unavailable

Not Safe for Work (2014)

figures unavailable

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

still on release

Ouija (2014)

budget $5 million, box office $100.6 million

Jessabelle (2014)

box office $1.6 million

The Boy Next Door (2015)

budget $4 million, box office $49.7 million

The Lazarus Effect (2015)

budget $3.3 million, box office $27 million

Unfriended (2015)

budget $1 million, box office $26.4 million

Upcoming films:

Wikipedia | Official site

CTRL is a 2016 British science fiction horror film to be directed by Harry Lindley.

Wanderland Productions is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter. The trailer below is CTRL: Nine Laws, a short film made to express some of the ideas in the script. Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired allowed the filmmakers to draw heavily on his ‘Nine Laws of God’ for the voiceover. The film was shot over 48 hours on several cameras including an iPhone 5, Sony Handicam and a Canon 7D mounted on Polecam.

Plot teaser:

Lex and her boyfriend Dru visit her reclusive brother Leo’s top-floor apartment in the heart of London. The young couple discover Leo has created a digital virus intent on gaining absolute knowledge, which is evolving at an alarming rate. The already uncomfortable family reunion turns nasty when the virus traps the trio, and begins to spy on them using disturbing ‘biological’ drones. Despite outsider Dru’s growing resentment towards the siblings’ close bond, the three must stay united to have any chance of overcoming Leo’s godlike creation.

Official website

Source: Anything Horror 

Empire of the Dead is a forthcoming American television series adaptation of George A. Romero’s fifteen-issue graphic novel of the same name – which mixes zombies and vampires in post-apocalyptic New York city – published by Marvel Comics. The series is being developed by Demarest, the production company that backed Kevin Smith’s Tusk,

The TV series will be scripted by Romero and longtime partner Peter Grunwald, both of whom are executive producers with Demarest’s Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson.

Source: Variety

‘Blood will stain the land’

Visions is a 2016 supernatural American horror film produced by Blumhouse (Paranormal Activity; Insidious) and directed by Kevin Greutert (Saw VI; Saw VII) from a screenplay by Lucas Sussman (Below) and L.D. Goffigan (Hunger). The film’s score is by Anton Sarko (The Possession; Ouija; Jessabelle).

Cast:

Isla Fisher (Now You See Me), Anson Mount (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), Gillian Jacobs, Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner) and Eva Longoria.

Plot teaser:

Leaving her hectic city lifestyle behind, young mother-to-be Julia joins her husband David at their beautiful new vineyard home only to plagued by strange noises and visions of a sinister hooded figure. No-one else hears or sees these hallucinations, not even David, who grows increasingly worried about his wife’s well-being. Desperate to prove her sanity, Julia hunts down a local medium who reveals the haunted history of the vineyard in which she now resides. As she desperately pieces together past events to keep a future horror from occurring, Julia uncovers a dark conspiracy that puts her life and the life of her unborn child at risk…

IMDb

WH

‘She’s into whips and brains!’

Zombinatrix is a forthcoming 2016 supernatural American horror film written and directed by Michael Kyne.

Cast:

Bianca Allaine (Albino Farm; Monster Mountain; The Crawling Dead), Lenora Claire (The Devil’s Muse; Noirland), Nadia White (Toxic Tutu; Don’t Fuck in the Woods, Dracula’s War, MILFs vs. Zombies), Doug Sakmann (Punk Rock Holocaust and sequels; Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 2), Mark Quinnette (Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1), Mike Hearse (Blood on the Reel), Johnny Daggers (Caustic Zombies).

Filming locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

New York City, USA

Washington D.C., USA

IMDb | Facebook

The Barn is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed by Justin M. Seaman from a screenplay with additions by Maggi Mizell, Michael Prutzman and Mark J. Reyes for Nevermore Productions. It should not be confused with the 2011 short film of the same name.

Currently in post-production and raising funds to complete The Barn, the filmmakers have created an Indiegogo page and released a second trailer via Fangoria‘s site.

Cast:

Mitchell Musolino (Delectus of Pain), Will Stout, Lexi Dripps, Cortland Woodard (The Poltergeist of Borley Forest), Nikki Darling, Nickolaus Joshua, Rik Billock (Gorgasm; FleshEater; The Dark Half; Schism), Ryan Nogy (Paracosm: The Untold Stories; Gore Orphanage).

Official synopsis:

Its Halloween 1989, best friends Sam and Josh are trying to enjoy what’s left of their final Devil’s Night before graduating high school. But trouble arises when the two pals and a group of friends take a detour on their way to a rock concert, finding an old abandoned barn and awakening the evil inside. Now it’s up to Sam and Josh to find a way to protect their friends and defeat the creatures that lurk within “The Barn”: The Boogeyman, Candycorn Scarecrow and Hallowed Jack.

First trailer:

Second trailer:

Filming locations:

Pennsylvania, USA

IMDb | Facebook |

The Devil in the White City is a forthcoming 2016 psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese from a script by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island). The film is based on a 2003 non-fiction book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson.

The book is set in Chicago, circa 1893, intertwining the true tales of Daniel H. Burnham, the architect behind the 1893 World’s Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes (DiCaprio), the serial killer who lured his victims to their deaths in his elaborately constructed “Murder Castle, which contained a gas chamber, crematorium and a dissecting table where Holmes would murder his victims and strip their skeletons to sell for medical and scientific study…

Deadline.com has reported that Paramount have acquired the rights to Larson’s book after a Hollywood bidding war. Appian Way’s DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson will be producing the movie along with Stacey Sher, Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff.

Image thanks: Frank Geyer

Ouija 2 is a forthcoming 2016 supernatural horror film directed by genre specialist Mike Flanagan (Abstentia; Before I Wake; Oculus) from a screenplay co-written with Jeff Howard (also announced as the co-scripter of the 2016 remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer).

Oculus actress Annalise Basso (also in Ghost Image; Dark House; and TV series Bones) is the first cast member to be announced.

Although it received largely negative reviews, Ouija went on to earn $102.5 million worldwide against a budget of $5 million. For the sequel, a host of producers are on board: Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form are representing Platinum Dunes (The Unborn; The Purge 3; Friday the 13th 2016 reboot) while Jason Blum will produce for Blumhouse Productions (they also produced Flanagan’s horror hit Oculus).

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Meanwhile, ouija board manufacturers Hasbro are represented by producers Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis, whilst Flanagan’s frequent collaborator, Trevor Macy, is on board for Intrepid Pictures. Sara Scott, Universal’s director of development, is also along for the ride.

Buy: Amazon.com

IMDb

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Related: Biggest earning horror films

The Forest is a 2016 American horror/thriller film directed by Jason Zada from a screenplay by David S. Goyer (Blade II; The Unborn; Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Nick Antosca (TV series’ Teen Wolf; Hannibal; Friday the 13th), Sarah Cornwell and Ben Katai (30 Days of Night: Dark Days; Hush).

Cast:

Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Eoin Macken, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Rina Takasaki, Kikuo Ichikawa, Noriko Sakura, Yûho Yamashita, Stephanie Vogt, James Owen.

The Forest is set to be released January 8, 2016 in the United States.

Plot teaser:

Set in the Aokigahara Forest, a real-life place in Japan where people go to end their lives. Against this backdrop, a young American woman comes in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. Despite everyone’s warnings not to “stray from the path,” Sara (Natalie Dormer) dares to enter the forest to discover the truth about her sister’s fate, only to be confronted by the angry and tormented souls of the dead who now prey on anyone who crosses their paths…

Filming locations:

Aokigahara Forest, Japan
Tokyo, Japan

Wikipedia | IMDb

Gamera (ガメラ) is an upcoming Japanese kaiju monster film directed by Katsuhito Ishii and produced by Kadokawa Pictures. It will apparently be a reboot to the Gamera series as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the franchise.

As reported on Wikizilla, on October 8, 2015, at the New York Comic-Con, posters and clip were revealed, possibly test footage for the upcoming film. A release date has not been announced.

The same footage will reportedly be shown at the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival in late October along with restored versions of the films Gamera vs. Gyaos; Gamera: Guardian of the Universe; Gamera 2: Advent of Legion; and Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys.

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Wolf Creek is a 2016 Australian Stan Original and Screentime television mini-series being directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek and sequel) Tony Tilse from scripts by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard. Production on the TV mini-series began on 19th October 2015 and will be broadcast mid-2016.

Cast:

John Jarratt (Picnic at Hanging Rock; Wolf Creek; Wolf Creek 2), who obviously plays psychopath Mick Taylor, Lucy Fry (Vampire Academy), Deborah Mailman (Offspring), Dustin Clare, Miranda Tapsell, Richard Cawthorne, Jake Ryan, and Jessica Tovey.

Press release:

“Ten years since the release of the hugely successful feature film Wolf Creek, creator Greg McLean and star John Jarratt return to give audiences a new take on the legend of Mick Taylor.

Wolf Creek, a six-part drama series, is a psychological thriller set in the world that fans of the films will recognise – but this time things are different. At first the pattern is familiar: Mick Taylor targets an American tourist family to terrorise and destroy. But the tables are turned when 19-year-old Eve (Lucy Fry) survives the massacre and starts to rebuild her shattered existence by embarking on a mission of revenge.”

South Australian Minister for the Arts, Jack Snelling, commented: “We are delighted to again secure the local production for Wolf Creek. South Australia has outstanding locations, talented cast and crew, and a government committed to supporting local production and creating jobs in the screen production industry.”

Source: mUmBRELLA

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