Netflix has acquired the global rights to Toby Meakins’ horror thriller “Curs>r,” starring Asa Butterfield (“Sex Education”), Iola Evans (“Carnival Row”) and Eddie Marsan.
The deal was negotiated by producer and financier Anton (“Greenland: Migration,” “His Dark Materials”) and Stigma Films.
The film, a dark twist on the ‘80s gaming obsession, wrapped principal photography in the U.K. in April, and is currently in post-production.
In the pic, a broke college dropout (Evans) decides to play an obscure, 1980s survival computer game in pursuit of an unclaimed $125,000 prize. But the game curses her, and she’s faced with dangerous choices and reality-warping challenges. After a series of unexpectedly terrifying moments, she realizes she’s no longer playing for the money, but for her life. The game locks her into an inescapable cycle of mind-bending horror. Stopping is not an option. It’s play or die.
Produced by Anton’s Sebastien Raybaud and John Zois, alongside Stigma Films’ Matthew James Wilkinson (“Yesterday,” “Days of the Bagnold Summer”), “Curs>r” is directed by Meakins (“Breathe,” “Floor 9.5”) and written by Simon Allen (“The Watch,” “Das Boot,” “The Musketeers”) from co-creators Allen, Meakins and Wilkinson. Allen, Liza Glucoft and Nick Angel are executive producers. Holly Hubsher also oversaw the project on behalf of Anton.
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Shot on location in London, the film participated in the U.K. government Film & TV Production Restart Scheme. Endeavor Content co-presented the U.S.