Lionsgate, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen are developing the horror film “Mother Land,” based on the spec script by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby.
Lionsgate bought the project in a competitive situation. Levy and Cohen will produce through their 21 Laps banner. The duo are executive producers on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Levy directed and produced the “Night at the Museum” franchise and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar for “Arrival.”
“Mother Land” is centered on a family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real. Coughlin and Grassby wrote the 2016 feature “Mean Dreams,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and starred Bill Paxton
Lionsgate’s Aaron Janus and Chelsea Kujawa, and 21 Laps Emily Morris will oversee the project. 21 Laps landed the highly Reddit article “My Wife & I Bought a Ranch” at Netflix and recently released the “Unsolved Mysteries” reboot on Netflix. The banner also will soon resume production on the fourth season of “Stranger Things” and has moved Levy’s upcoming untitled Ryan Reynolds time travel film from Paramount to Netflix, which begins production in November.
Additionally, Paramount will release the 21 Laps-produced “Love & Monsters” on premium video on demand on Oct. 16. Parmount announced on Aug. 20 that the sci-fi project, starring Dylan O’Brien, that it had decided to ditch a theatrical release that had been scheduled for Feb. 12, 2021.
Coughlin and Grassby are represented by Paradigm, The Coronel Group, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller et al. Robert Melnik oversaw the deal for Lionsgate. WME & Ziffren/Brittenham rep 21 Laps.