After working together on the combined half billion-plus grossing hits, Split and Glass, James McAvoy and Blumhouse are reteaming for a remake of Danish thriller, Speak No Evil. James Watkins (The Woman in Black) will direct from his script. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024.
In the original 2022 movie, a Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness. Pic is based on the screenplay by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.
Jason Blum will produce the film for Blumhouse, with Paul Ritchie, Christian Tafdrup, Jacob Jarek, and Bea Sequeira serving as EPs.
Watkins made his directorial debut with the cult thriller Eden Lake. He next directed The Woman in Black, the most successful British horror film since box office records began minting $129M WW. In television he has directed the cult Black Mirror episode, Shut Up And Dance and co-created and directed the International Emmy-winning crime drama McMafia. He has just completed show-running and directing the sixties spy thriller series The Ipcress File.
BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated McAvoy most recently starred in the third and final season of the BBC/HBO TV Series His Dark Materials reprising his role as Lord Asriel alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ruth Wilson. In 2022 he returned to the stage to perform in the critically acclaimed and Laurence Olivier Award nominated Cyrano de Bergerac with director Jamie Lloyd. McAvoy received rave reviews for his performance earning Laurence Olivier and Drama League Award nominations for the role. In 2021, McAvoy appeared in STX Films’ remake of the French thriller My Son, alongside Claire Foy, in addition to starring opposite Sharon Horgan in BBC Two’s Together, for which he went on to secure a BAFTA Scotland Nomination. That same year, McAvoy reprised his role as the main character Dream in Audible Original’s The Sandman: Act II. McAvoy is most known for his performances on screen in Atonement, The Last King of Scotland, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and his role as Charles Xavier in the X-men franchise. On stage, he has been seen in the West End’s Three Days of Rain, Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios and The Ruling Class, all of which earned him an Olivier Award nomination, as well as Breathing Corpses at the Royal Court, Privates on Parade at the Donmar Warehouse and Out in the Open at Hampstead Theatre. The actor is repped by United Agents, UTA and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern, LLP. Watkins is represented by WME and United Agents.
Universal always had Aug. 9, 2024 rsvp’ed for an event title. Speak No Evil will open in the wake of Warner Bros.’ M. Night Shyamalan movie Trap (dated for Aug. 2, 2024), who recently went over to the Burbank, CA lot following the release of his Universal title this past winter, Knock at the Cabin ($54.4M WW).