The irony here is special.
Awhile back, Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, directors of Extraterrestrial (pictured), slammed our V/H/S films on their Twitter account. We threw some jabs back and forth before hugging it out.
The reason I bring this up is because the duo are now attached to direct Temple, an old script (originally titled “Haunted Temple”) by Simon Barrett, who co-wrote two of the V/H/S films and directed the wrap of the sequel. That’s sort of funny, no?
It’s said to be in the vein of The Grudge and The Ring.
The screenplay was originally written for Hellbenders‘ JT Petty (who also contributed to the screenplay) in 2011, who exited the project some years ago. Barrett has gone on to write You’re Next, as well as The Guest and Lionsgate’s upcoming The Woods (allegedly the next Blair Witch film) for Adam Wingard.
As a tie-in with the film, a book of ghost stories surrounding various real temples in Japan will also be released. Written by Eiji Otsuka, the book will be featured in the film because one of the chapters focuses on the fictional temple in the project. Toei Animation will also create a 15-part anime series based on this book.
Shooting will take place in Japan.
Neal Edelstein of Hooked Digital Media, Shinya Egawa of Hemisphere Motion Picture Partners, Eric Bassett of Absurda and Mike Macari are producing while Toei Animation in Japan is financing.
