The buzzy horror script His House has been picked up by New Regency and BBC Films.

The film, from first-time UK director Remi Weekes, was the subject of a lawsuit from its former owner, The Weinstein Company. Now the lawsuit will no longer go ahead and it is free to go to its new owners.

Those new owners have tapped Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu to star and it has a $10M budget, healthy for a first-time filmmaker.

Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee is producing with Martin Gentles and Edward King of Starchild Pictures and New Regency’s Arnon Milchan, with Stuart Manashil and Steven Schneider being executive producers. Financed by New Regency, Fox will have worldwide distribution rights. This is the first time New Regency (12 Years A Slave)

Here’s the description of His House: The elevated horror follows a young refugee couple who make a harrowing escape from war-torn Sudan but then struggle to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface.”

Andreas Wiseman of Deadline reports, “I gather the script is poetic and gripping at the same time and a number of people close to it have remarked that Weekes is a real talent to watch. All in all it’s sounding like a classy genre affair, further bolstered by the hiring of casting director Carmen Cuba, known for her work on Stranger Things, Now You See Me and The Florida Project.”

Weeks is co-founder of the production company Tell No One, which specializes in short-form experimental videos. His short film, Tickle Monster, premiered at SXSW. The script for His House also appeared on BloodList of hot genre scripts.

You can read more about the project at Deadline, who first reported the news.

Remi Weekes

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