For roughly the last half decade, director David F. Sandberg kept busy in the DC Extended Universe by directing the Shazam! movies, with the first entry coming out in 2019 and Fury of the Gods following in 2023. However, the DCEU is now over, and many of the upcoming DC movies will reside in the new DC Universe shared continuity. Sandberg, on the other hand, will be retuning to his horror roots, as evidenced by the cool video game adaptation he’s signed on to helm.
Before working on Shazam!, Sandberg made a name for himself as the director of Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, which some of you might consider to among the best horror movies of all time. Now THR has shared that his next spooky cinematic offering will be Until Dawn, based off the same-named PlayStation game released in 2015. Sandberg is also producing alongside IT screenwriter Gary Dauberman, who’s doing a pass on the Until Dawn script that Blair Butler previously wrote. Sandberg and Dauberman previously worked together on Annabelle: Creation.
For those who haven’t heard of Until Dawn, the original game is an interactive drama that follows eight adults who have to survive threats both realistic and supernatural while staying at the Blackwood Mountain lodge for a night. Rami Malek and Hayden Panettiere were among the actors who portrayed the leading characters, and the game itself proved to be a critical and commercial success. A rail shooter spinoff game called Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was released in 2016, and a first-person perspective prequel called The Inpatient followed in 2018.
While the Until Dawn movie will presumably adapt the events of the game faithfully, no official plot details have been revealed yet. For now, Screen Gems, which is putting together the movie with PlayStation Productions (both of which are Sony divisions), is describing it as an “R-rated love letter to the horror genre, centering on an ensemble cast.” It’s also unclear if Malek, Panettierre or any of the original video game’s other actors will reprise their roles, though I’m more inclined to think new actors will be selected instead.
In any case, Until Dawn marks yet another way that the PlayStation brand is contributing to the film and TV space. Last year, Gran Turismo, which Netflix subscribers can stream, raced into theaters and was met with positive critical reception, including CinemaBlend’s review giving it 4 out of 5 stars. On TV, both The Last of Us and Twisted Metal were positively received and are both returning for second seasons. The former can be viewed with a Max subscription and the latter with a Peacock subscription.
We’ll continue passing along updates on Until Dawn’s progress as they come in, including where it ends up being slotted on the schedule of upcoming horror movies. For now , get the lay of this year’s cinematic land by perusing the 2024 movies calendar.
