Movies
Dimension Films’ Top Secret ‘Dark Skies’ Not So Secret
Dimension Films officially announced today – what we reported on April 4 – that they have acquired U.S. distribution rights to the supernatural thriller Dark Skies, written and directed by Scott Stewart (Priest, Legion).
As Bloody reported exclusively on April 4, Keri Russell (Mission: Impossible III, Grimm Love) and Daniel Barrett are both in talks to play a young boys parents, who are financially struggling to get by.
While they keep the story under wraps, we’ve already exclusively reported that the horror flick focuses on the parent’s 6-year-old boy who’s apparently been “marked” by an alien (living among us) for future abduction. It looks like it taps into some of the same themes of Fright Night, while also playing into child abuse (did the parents cause these marks on the child’s body?)
The film is scheduled to go into production this summer.
Jason Blum will produce through his Blumhouse Productions alongside Alliance Films who will fully finance the picture. Blumhouse is responsible for the Paranormal Activity films, and the forthcoming The Lords of Salem, directed by Rob Zombie, Sinister, Area 51, Vigilandia, Not Safe For Work and Mockingbird. Wowsa!
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Alliance Films’ Charles Layton will executive produce. Alliance Films will distribute in Canada, in the UK (via its Momentum Pictures subsidiary) and in Spain (via Aurum). Octane, IM Global’s genre label, will launch international sales in Cannes.
“Jason has done a masterful job over the past several years of breaking new ground and creating huge commercial successes in the supernatural and horror genres,” said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company. “We are confident that Dark Skies will continue that success.”
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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