EXCLUSIVE: Smile producers Temple Hill Leisure is partnering with Protagonist Footage on The Rule of Three, which is being arrange as the primary installment in a brand new horror trilogy tailored from thriller creator Sam Ripley’s novel of the identical identify.
Protagonist Footage is launching gross sales on the upcoming Cannes Movie Market with Thomasin McKenzie (JoJo Rabbit) and Katie Douglas (Clown in a Cornfield) aboard to star. James Roday Rodriguez (Gravy) directs, tailored from a screenplay by Todd Harthan (ABC’s Excessive Potential) and Rodriguez.
The synopsis reads: “Beware, Beware, The Rule of Three, It’s coming for you, prefer it got here for me… Are Amy (Douglas) and her household suffering from a lethal curse? Each three years, demise strikes beneath mysterious circumstances, horrifically killing relations. It’s nearly three years to the day since Amy’s mother and father’ demise, and Amy realises the curse should strike her subsequent. With the assistance of her finest good friend Lizzy (McKenzie), the 2 buddies attempt to cheat Amy’s demise and discover a method to reverse the curse. However is Amy’s destiny already sealed? Dangerous issues all the time occur in threes, so they are saying…”
Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce for Twilight and Smile outfit Temple Hill, with Hal Sadoff and George Berman executive-producing. Dave Bishop, James Pugh and George Hamilton function govt producers for Protagonist, in collaboration with Rodriguez and Harthan’s new shingle, Taft Tennis.
The Rule of Three marks Temple Hill and Protagonist Footage’ fourth collaboration, which started with Clown in a Cornfield, scheduled for a large U.S. theatrical launch on Could 9. The businesses additionally joined forces on the horror Monitor, presently in manufacturing, and Simon Curtis’ Encore.
“The Rule of Three is the sort of gripping horror that will get beneath your pores and skin and stays there,” stated Bishop. “It’s a daring, elevated horror with an unsettling psychological edge that faucets into one thing common – and terrifying…a really wild journey. With Temple Hill’s experience within the style paired with a chillingly sharp idea, this can be a should see for horror followers and audiences worldwide.”
Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen added: “We had been instantly hooked by James’ imaginative and prescient for a recent and terrifying curse film revolving across the infamous lore behind the quantity 3. Centred on a ride-or-die friendship between two younger ladies, set towards the nostalgic backdrop of the 90’s, and underpinned by James’ trademark wit, we all know that audiences will discover The Rule of Three scary and hilarious in equal measure. And with this being the primary within the franchise, there are lots of jaw-dropping twists and turns to come back.”
“That is any director’s dream — supportive and mustached producers, an unimaginable forged and materials that defies the methods we attempt to outline ‘style’ filmmaking. Come for the fear, keep for the storytelling,” stated Rodriguez.
McKenzie’s upcoming tasks embrace Bleecker Road’s comedy Fackham Corridor from comic Jimmy Carr, and Anna Lee from Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet, writers and director of the Oscar winner, The Brutalist.
Douglas will subsequent lead the horror function Clown in a Cornfield, which made its debut at SXSW 2025 and can launch in theaters within the US on Could 9, 2025. Earlier credit embrace Lifetime’s The Woman Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story, Lifetime’s Imagine Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey and Vertical’s The Stroll.
McKenzie is repped by UTA, Untitled Leisure, Gail Cowan Administration and Johnson Shapiro; and Douglas is repped by Play Administration, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean. Roday Rodriguez is repped by CAA, Principal Leisure and Peikoff Mahan Legislation Workplace; Harthan is repped by UTA, Circle Administration+Manufacturing, and Barnes, Morris. Sam Ripley is repped by CAA on behalf of James Wills at Watson, Little.
