Movies
‘Presence’ – Steven Soderbergh’s Acclaimed Haunted House Movie Finds a Home at NEON
In the wake of Netflix acquiring It’s What’s Inside out of Sundance 2024, another hot genre movie that world premiered at Sundance has found itself a distribution home this week.
Steven Soderbergh’s ghost story Presence has been acquired by NEON, with Deadline first reporting the news. The site notes, “I haven’t got a deal number to share, but there were about 10 bidders so it’s a healthy sum for a thriller that has gotten uniformly strong reviews at the festival.”
One of those strong reviews came from Meagan Navarro right here on Bloody Disgusting, who awarded Presence 4 stars out of a possible 5 stars in her review published over the weekend.
Meagan raves, “Unsane director Steven Soderbergh reunites with Kimi screenwriter David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) to give an innovative new spin on the quintessential ghost story. Presence frames its haunted events entirely from the perspective of its ghost. From the opening frame until the end credits, audiences see the thrilling story unfold through chilling narrative twists via Soderbergh’s experimentation with form and technique. Using the camera’s gaze as the ghost’s observing eyes isn’t the only trick up Soderbergh and Koepp’s sleeves, ensuring this exciting shakeup of the haunted house keeps you guessing.”
“Presence gives a contemporary, innovative new spin on the haunted house format that bypasses the well-trodden path to instead create scares of a different nature,” Meagan’s review continues. “Combined with Koepp’s twisty script, Presence pulls you in, terrifies you, then leaves your heart on the floor. This ghost story doesn’t scare in the conventional sense, but it’s an innovative and grim nail-biter with more on its mind than the logline suggests.”
The logline, you ask? Here it is, via Deadline…
“In Presence, a family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they are not alone. A supernatural force has infiltrated the house, and taken a specific interest in the couple’s daughter.
Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland star.
It’s now been five years since the release of sequel Happy Death Day 2U, Christopher Landon’s sequel to the Groundhog Day-style slasher movie from 2017. Both films star Jessica Rothe as final girl Tree Gelbman, and director Christopher Landon had been planning on bringing the character – and the actor – back for a third installment. So… where is it?!
We’ve been talking about a potential Happy Death Day 3 for several years now, with the ball in producer Jason Blum’s court. Happy Death Day 2U scared up $64 million at the worldwide box office, a far cry from the first film’s $125 million. But with a reported production budget of just $9 million, that first sequel was profitable for Blumhouse. So again… where is it?!
Chatting with Screen Geek this week while promoting her new action-thriller Boy Kills World, franchise star Jessica Rothe provided a hopeful update on Happy Death Day 3.
“Well, I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out,” Rothe explains. “We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row.
Rothe continues in her comments to Screen Geek, “But my fingers are so crossed. I think Tree [Gelbman] deserves her third and final chapter to bring that incredible character and franchise to a close or a new beginning.”
Back in 2020, Christopher Landon had revealed that the working title for the third installment was Happy Death Day to Us, said to be “different than the other two films.”
In the meantime, Christopher Landon is directing a mysterious thriller titled Drop for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, along with a werewolf movie titled Big Bad for Lionsgate.
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