Here’s Curry Barker, again, arguably the hottest director in Hollywood at the moment, with his $750K-budgeted “Obsession” continuing its impressive run at the box office, having now surpassed the $300M mark worldwide.
No surprise, then, that studios desperately want in on the Barker sweepstakes and are eager to get involved with his next project. Last month, reports surfaced that several studios were offering Barker $10M for his next original film — without knowing a thing about it. He hadn’t even pitched it.
It turns out Barker will be staying at Universal, which has landed his next directorial effort, shelling out what THR reports is a “rich eight-figure deal” for Barker to write, produce, and direct his third film, with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster returning as producers.
Of course, details about the new project are being kept hush-hush, but it is being described as an original horror movie.
“This film is something I’ve been excited to make for a while, and I’m thrilled to be reteaming with Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, and Universal Film Group for it,” Barker tells THR. “They’ve built the kind of home for bold, original storytelling that every filmmaker dreams of, and I couldn’t imagine better collaborators for this film.”
This won’t actually be Barker’s next project to reach audiences, however, as he has already completed “Anything But Ghosts,” a horror film starring Aaron Paul, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Violet McGraw.
Is this guy truly the next great filmmaker, or is a desperate Hollywood placing a lot of faith in someone with only one (highly successful) movie on his résumé? That’s the question that keeps nagging at me, but we should have a much better idea when “Anything But Ghosts” is released sometime next year.
The screenplay is credited to Joel and Ethan Coen! Eleanor Catton wrote the original draft, alongside Conor McPherson. So yes, Ethan has a writing credit here, which makes this a de facto Coen reunion.