EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is in final negotiations to acquire worldwide rights to Imaginary, a new Blumhouse thriller to be directed by Jeff Wadlow (The Curse of Bridge Hollow).
The studios will co-finance the project, with Lionsgate to present it to buyers at this month’s European Film Market. Pic is the second to team the companies following the Blum-produced Sinister for Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate released in 2012.
In Imaginary, a young woman returns to her childhood home only to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and very unhappy she left. Sources tell us that the plan is for the project, currently being cast, to go into production this spring. Wadlow, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland and Bryce McGuire wrote the script. Producers are Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Wadlow.
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Wadlow is a DGA Award nominee who collaborated with Blumhouse on the Lucy Hale-led horror-thriller Truth or Dare, released by Universal, and the horror Fantasy Island released by Columbia Pictures. He directed and exec produced the former title, and directed and produced the latter. He also is known for helming Netflix’s Marlon Wayans-starrer The Curse of Bridge Hollow and Uni’s Kick-Ass 2, among other titles.
Blum founded the genre powerhouse Blumhouse Productions in 2000 and most recently produced the sci-fi horror M3GAN, which has grossed more than $158 million in its first month in theaters. A sequel, M3GAN 2.0, is already in the works for release on January 17, 2025. Blum has also in recent years shepherded franchises like The Purge, Halloween and Paranormal Activity, while producing such hits as Get Out, The Invisible Man and The Black Phone.
Wadlow is repped by UTA, Artists First, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum.
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