Ten years after the release of the original film, Lights Out 2 is back in development
The James Wan-produced horror film Lights Out made almost $150 million on a budget just under $5 million when it was released in 2016, so it was no surprise when New Line Cinema immediately greenlit a sequel. What’s surprising is that, ten years later, Lights Out 2 has still never made it into production. The studio is showing renewed interest in the project, though, as The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that up-and-comer Connor Osborn McIntyre has been hired to write the screenplay.
McIntyre
Who is Connor Osborn McIntyre? THR provides the info: “McIntyre is a scribe on the upswing. He wrote Animals, the upcoming dramatic thriller that Ben Affleck directed and stars in alongside Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, and Kerry Washington. His original script American Midnight was featured on last year’s Black List of best unproduced screenplays and sold to Netflix with Vertigo Entertainment and Spooky Pictures producing. Previously, his original screenplay Copenhagen sold to Makeready and Fifth Season.“
Lights Out
Here’s a reminder of what was going on in Lights Out: When Rebecca left home, she thought she left her childhood fears behind. Growing up, she was never really sure of what was and wasn’t real when the lights went out… and now her little brother, Martin, is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that had once tested her sanity and threatened her safety. A frightening entity with a mysterious attachment to their mother, Sophie, has reemerged. But this time, as Rebecca gets closer to unlocking the truth, there is no denying that all their lives are in danger… once the lights go out.
The film starred Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello, and Alicia Vela-Bailey.
Long-Awaited Sequel
Sandberg was previously on board to direct Lights Out 2 and would have been working from a screenplay by the first film’s writer Eric Heisserer. A few years ago, he confirmed to Collider that a draft of the script was completed, and “in that draft, Martin was still young, and he’s not young anymore. He’s like a man now, you know. No, but she was sort of attacking a new family, but then this cast got involved to sort of help out with that. Because, I mean, you kind of have to do that. Because the fun thing with a horror movie is the discovery when the haunting starts, and you don’t know what’s going on. So, if she just comes back to this cast, like, ‘Well, yeah, we know who Diana is. We’ve dealt with her before.’ So if you have a different family at first, then they can go through all that, but then you can have this cast come in and sort of, you know, be the experts to help defeat.“
Chris Borrelli also wrote a draft of the script at some point.
No details have been revealed on the story McIntyre is writing for Lights Out 2. Sandberg and Heisserer will be producing the film alongside original producer Lawrence Grey, Ben Everard, Lotta Losten, and Atomic Monster, the company run by James Wan.
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