Andy and Barbara Muschietti will team with Skydance for a new horror label, bringing the The Flash and IT filmmakers back to their roots as independent horror creators. Named Nocturna, the Muschiettis say their focus will be on creating high quality genre content with an eye toward making a couple of movies a year. That model sounds not dissimilar to something like A24 does, and they have had both box office and critical success in recent years. The label’s first film will be They Will Kill You, written by Kirill Sokolov and Alex Litvak, with Sokolov directing.
Both Skydance and the Muschiettis have been in the headlines quite a bit recently. The Muschiettis are developing The Brave and the Bold for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios, while Skydance is one of a handful of players who have expressed interest in acquiring Paramount Global.
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“Under this label, we are excited to deliver the full range of emotions that our movies pack: Heart, humor and horror,” the Muschiettis said in a statement to THR, who first reported the move.
“Andy and Barbara are visionary filmmakers who have mastered the art of scary event movies that connect with global audiences, and David and I along with the entire Skydance team are thrilled to partner with them on the launch of Nocturna,” added Dana Goldberg, Skydance chief creative officer. “It’s fitting that They Will Kill You will be our first project as it perfectly encapsulates Nocturna’s mission of delivering unique and entertaining horror experiences that will live in the audiences’ nightmares for years.”
Per the synopsis given to THR, They Will Kill You is “a horror feature laced with the black humor that is Sokolov’s trademark, telling the story of a woman who answers a help wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious high-rise in New York City, not realizing she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years.”
Prior to The Flash, the Muschiettis were best known for their 2-part adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. The epic book had previously been adapted as a TV miniseries, and had been in and out of development in Hollywood for years before Andy Muschietti directed a blockbuster first installment (and a huge, but slightly less beloved, follow-up). Its success made him a leading candidate for a number of big blockbusters, but his relationship with Warners kept him there at the time and put him on track for The Flash.
