‘Hush’ Buyer Screening Leaves Buyers Buzzing: Toronto

Toronto Festival acquisition titles from Anomalisa to Eye in the Sky and the Michael Moore docu Where To Invade Next made strong debuts and have buyers circling. There was a surprise entry into all of this that is creating buzz. Hush, a micro-budget horror film written and directed by Mike Flanagan and starring his co-writer Kate Siegel, screened tonight at 9 PM. It is produced by Intrepid’s Trevor Macy and Blumhouses Jason Blum and it is a fortuitous time for the latter. Blumhouse today launched The Visit, a $5 million film that is eyeing a gross four times that this weekend.

Flanagan’s Oculus–the biggest grossing film acquired at the 2013 Toronto fest–was the first teaming of Intrepid and Blumhouse, and the filmmaker is currently directing Blumhouse’s Ouija 2, which he wrote with Jeff Howard. WME Global arranged the screening and is overseeing sales on the film. It played well and is expected to sell before the weekend is over. Stay tuned.