Sony’s ‘Grudge’ Reboot Delayed to 2020

Sony Pictures will no longer release its reboot of The Grudge on June 21, shifting the film back six months to January 3, 2020, Exhibitor Relations Co. reports.

Sony's GRUDGE reboot has been delayed 6 months--now set to kick off 2020 on January 3rd instead of June 21, 2019. The first weekend of the new year has been a hotbed for horror over the last couple decades. Remember, Sony's ESCAPE ROOM debuted with $18M in week #1 this year.

— Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) January 28, 2019

Sony's small-budgeted horror Escape Room won $76 million at the worldwide box office thus far following its Jan. 4 release. Universal thriller Glass is also enjoying the top spot at the box office this month, taking in $162 million globally in ten days of release.

Though January is often referred to as a dump month — a slow period where many films go to die — horror has sometimes thrived at the start of the year, leading to successful performances for 2008's Cloverfield, 2013's Mama, 2017's Split and The Bye Bye Man, and last year's Insidious: The Last Key.

Following some production delays after a credit battle with Take Ichise, producer on 2004's The Grudge that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, the reboot was previously set for August of this year before it was bumped up two months to June.

"Wait until you see this. It's the scariest movie I've ever been a part of, not even maybe. Not even maybe. And it's the scariest part I've ever had, bar none," Grudge star Lin Shaye told ComicBook.com of the reboot, promising fans are "going to go insane" over the Nicolas Pesce-directed horror.

"What will make it really different is Nicolas Pesce, who is the writer-director, who is extraordinary. I mean he's a real visionary," Shaye added.

"I had a phenomenal time working with him. He was very open to my ideas, which he told me he never is. He said, 'I don't usually let actors do what they want.' He said, 'But in your case, there were no rules.' I was inspired. The ideas I came up with were inspired by what he was creating. And he acknowledged that and allowed it."

John Cho (Searching), Demián Bichir (The Nun), Andrea Riseborough (Mandy) and William Sadler (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) also star.

Grudge opens January 3, 2020.