Movies
Joe Dante Talks Return to Horror and ‘The Hole’ Being 3-D
It’s pretty exciting to see the director of GREMLINS, PIRANHA and THE HOWLING making a huge return to horror with The Hole, but did you know that director Joe Dante doesn’t really find much of an interest in horror films? Beyond the break you can read a portion of an interview where he talks about how he returned to horror and why he decided to shoot in 3-D.
Joe Dante talks to Screen Daily about his new feature, THE HOLE, which was funded by Bold films for approx $15m. First on the list is why he’s returning to horror.
“I’ve made a lot of horror movies but generally don’t find much of interest in them because the material doesn’t appeal to me,” Dante says as he prepares to begin production in Vancouver in December. “This was different: it’s essentially a family-oriented story and I found the quality of the writing and characters to be above average.”
When he read the script for The Hole, a lightbulb clicked on inside his head. “3D seems to be in the news again due to the peripatetic efforts of Jeffrey Katzenberg, so I thought this might be the time to do a 3D movie.”
The story features a family who move into a new house where the children find a bottomless hole in the basement. “Of course, there’s something bad in the hole and I thought we could use 3D to enhance the telling of the story with things not so much coming at you but going away from you.”
Teri Polo, Chris Massoglia and Haley Bennett will star in the film written by Mark L. Smith.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are reteaming for the long-awaited 28 Years Later horror sequel trilogy, and the first film in that new trilogy now has a release date.
28 Years Later arrives in theaters on June 20, 2025 from Sony.
Jack O’Connell (Amy Winehouse: Back To Black) has joined the previously announced Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu) in the upcoming 28 Years Later.
Alex Garland will write the first film and Boyle will return to direct. Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) will direct the second installment in the trilogy from Sony Pictures.
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer.
The original movie in 2002 starred Cillian Murphy and was written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle. In the smash hit horror film, “Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.”
A sequel, 28 Weeks Later, arrived in 2007. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo took over as director. In the sequel, which starred Jeremy Renner, “Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.”
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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