Last year, we got a report that Zach Cregger — coming off the immense success of “Weapons” — had his mysterious sci-fi horror flick, “The Flood,” hitting a wall at Netflix. The hold-up? Cregger reportedly wante the film to land in theaters first, and the streamer wasn’t budging.
At the time, whether the project ever saw the light of day was up in the air, but word was that after his upcoming “Resident Evil” reboot, Cregger’s next move would likely be a “Weapons” prequel centered around Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys.
I’m now saying, hold on just a second — one of my sources is telling me that Cregger and Netflix are trying to reach a deal for ‘Flood, and that it could potentially be his next film. The streamer will probably give this one the same type of “robust” rollout — their words, not mine— that Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ is set to garner this fall.
What changed? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it’s that “Weapons” snagged an Oscar, giving Cregger some serious clout, and now a decent theatrical release just makes sense for Netflix. Yeah… maybe that’s it. Oh, and Steven Spielberg is one of the producers.
Now, the film is still “in development” over at Netflix; no casting has happened yet, and I’m told Cregger hasn’t chosen yet what his actual next project will be, but he’d like to shoot something in the fall, and this could be it.
So, what’s “Flood” actually about? The story follows a deep-space exploration team aboard the Spiritus Mundi, who pick up a strange, recurring signal from a remote planet. Captain Elena Voss leads the mission to investigate, only to discover a bizarre alien artifact that starts warping time, reality, and the crew’s minds.
Netflix’s no-theatrical stance has already cost them big-name talent before. Joseph Kosinski walked away from “F1,” Greta Gerwig reportedly threatened to abandon her “Narnia” without a big-screen release, Emerald Fennell passed on a higher Netflix offer for “Wuthering Heights,” and the Duffer Brothers jumped ship to Paramount over the same issue.
As for Cregger’s “Resident Evil” reboot, it’s coming out on September 18 via Sony.