Movies
Universal Fights off Alien Invasion with the Writer of ‘Arrival’
Universal Pictures has acquired the sci-fi thriller Extinction in a competitive bidding war, Variety writes.
Michael Pena (Ant-Man) stars in the movie, from Good Universe and Mandeville Films, as a man trying to save his family from an alien invasion. Ben Young will direct. Young’s debut feature, Hounds of Love, premiered at last year’s Venice Days and took home the best actress prize for Ashleigh Cummings.
Academy Award nominee Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Lights Out) wrote the screenplay with Spenser Cohen (Moonfall), and Bradley Caleb Kane.
Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville will produce. Mandeville’s Alexander Young will executive produce, alongside Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake of Good Universe. Anna Halberg will serve as co-producer.
Exec VP of production Erik Baiers and creative executive Mika Pryce will oversee production for Universal. Erin Westerman will work on behalf of Good Universe.
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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