Akela Cooper (M3GAN, Malignant, The Nun 2) has been set to adapt the screenplay for a new Universal horror movie based on a Colin Bannon-penned short story, Don’t Look. Per Deadline, the mysterious new horror film will star Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion, Antebellum).
Don’t Look is based on Colin Bannon’s unpublished short story, giving us not a single clue in terms of plot, and the logline for the Universal feature remains under wraps at this time.
Bannon is on a hot streak. Last month, the writer made a Universal deal for his horror short story Long Lost, produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon for Genre Pictures, Scott Glassgold, and his Ground Control Entertainment. That feature film adaptation is said to be “In the vein of What Lies Beneath and Rosemary’s Baby, telling the story of a recently married woman whose life is upended when her husband’s long-lost wife shockingly returns after she was believed to be dead, sparking fears that she’s hatching a sinister plan to reclaim what was once hers.”
Deadline noted that “Bannon holds the Black List for having landed a record seven scripts on the List, and he has sold the specs Ultra to Tri-Star Pictures and First Ascent to Netflix.”
Scott Glassgold recently teamed up with Akela Cooper on upcoming feature, It’s Over, an unpublished short story from Jack Follman that Sony Pictures has scooped up. It’s Over is said to take the painful breakup of a longtime couple and drive it right into the horror lane, blending humor and social commentary, as Cooper did in M3GAN and Malignant.
Janelle Monae is in talks to both star in and produce Don’t Look through her Wondaland Pictures’ first look deal with Universal Pictures, along with Scott Glassgold’s Ground Control.
Hopefully, plot details will emerge soon. Stay tuned.