Focus Features, Entertainment One, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Blumhouse Productions have announced that Leigh Whannell will direct the upcoming horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 3, for which he also is providing the screenplay.
Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions, which produced both previous entries in the franchise, is producing the next installment along with Oren Peli and James Wan. Whannell has written both Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2, which earned more than $40 million at the box office in its opening weekend making it one of the largest horror genre openings ever and one of the biggest openings for a film released in the month of September.
Whannell most recently wrote and starred in the Sundance hit Cooties, SXSW’s The Mule, and, along with Wan, co-created the hit Saw franchise. Steven Schneider, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Peter Schlessel, Lia Buman, and Xavier Marchand are executive producing. Principal photography of the movie is scheduled to start this summer on July 7th.
Peter Schlessel, Focus Features’ CEO, said, “It’s with great pleasure that we turn the ‘Insidious’ franchise over to the co-creator Leigh Whannell. We are all excited to see in what direction Leigh takes the next installment and we are also glad to welcome James Wan to his new role as producer.”
“We are all excited to bring a third film to audiences and know James and Leigh have great things in store for our fans,” added Blum. “eOne and SPWA have been incredible partners on the ‘Insidious’ franchise and we look forward to working together along with Focus Features, James Wan and Leigh on the next installment.”
“We’re thrilled to join forces with Leigh, Jason, James and this incredible team once again. Alongside Focus Features and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, we are excited to bring another installment of this successful franchise to its loyal fans in our territories and around the world,” said Marchand.
Steve Bersch, President of SPWA, added, “We are greatly looking forward to bringing this next chapter of ‘Insidious’ to the International audience, and with Leigh at the helm we’re confident ‘Insidious: Chapter 3’ will live up to the high standards set by the franchise.”
The first Insidious told the story of Josh and Renai Lambert and their son Dalton, confronting the demons that possess the young boy. Insidious: Chapter 2 then followed the haunted Lambert family as they sought to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.
Focus Features, which acquired the rights to release Insidious: Chapter 3 from FilmDistrict, plans to bring the film to U.S. theaters on April 3, 2015. eOne will distribute the picture in Canada, U.K. and Spain. Sony will distribute the picture in the rest of the world.
