Movies
Universal Flatlines With ‘Thirteen’
Hitting theaters sometime in 2013 will be Thirteen, a new horror film from Universal, Strike Entertainment and Energy Entertainment.
Ostensibly it’s supposed to be in the Flatliners mold, but I’m not sure how a found-footage possession film can really compare. We’ll see soon enough though!
Per Variety, “Universal has pre-emptively bought ‘Thirteen,’ a spec by Benjamin Magid, and set it up with Uni-based Strike Entetrainment and Brooklyn Weaver at Energy Entertainment.
‘Thirteen’ centers on possession and is understood to utilize a mixture of found-footage point of views. The story is reminiscent of 1990’s ‘Flatliners’, which starred Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland as medical school students experimenting with the line between life and death.
Magid penned ‘Pan’, a supernatural take on J.M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’, which is scheduled to go into production later this year with Chris Tuffin, Renee Tab and Weaver producing and Ben Hibon directing.”
It doesn’t sound immediately off the wall interesting, but I suppose there’s always room to be pleasantly surprised.
It’s now been seven years since the release of Blumhouse’s Ma starring Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, with talks of a sequel dating back to last year. Last we heard, Emmy-winner Ashley Nicole Black (“Shrinking,” “Ted Lasso”) would be writing the screenplay for Ma 2, and Octavia Spencer provides an update in a new chat with Entertainment Tonight.
“We are working hard on getting a great script out. Blumhouse is the best at what they do. It’s going to be chock-full of surprises,” Octavia Spencer tells the outlet in a fresh update.
“Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say ‘Don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round,” Blumhouse Founder/CEO Jason Blum had teased when the sequel was originally announced last Summer.
Spencer plays Sue Ann in Ma, a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.
While no director has been announced as of yet, Tate Taylor helmed the 2019 original from a script by Scotty Landes. Taylor previously detailed that Sue Ann’s fate was intentionally ambiguous, so the door was open for a return in a possible sequel. That Ma earned more than $60 million at the box office meant a sequel was practically inevitable. It also doesn’t hurt that the character popped on social media, becoming something of a viral meme sensation.
Stay tuned for more on Ma 2 as we learn it.