Searchlight Closes $25M+ World Rights Deal For Annapurna Neo-Horror ‘Nightbitch;’ Amy Adams & Director Marielle Heller Team On Rachel Yoder Novel Adaptation
deadline.comIn a deal sources place at $25M+ for worldwide rights, Searchlight Pictures has acquired Annapurna’s darkly comic neo-horror film Nightbitch, starring six-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams (Arrival), acquired in a competitive sale.
Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) has come aboard to direct the film, based on Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel, from her own script.Nightbitch tells the story of a woman thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler in the suburbs, who slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a canine.
Bond Group and Annapurna acquired film rights to Yoder’s book back in 2020 and developed the script alongside Heller. It marks a reemergence of Megan Ellison’s reconfigured Annapurna in the marketplace.
The original plan was to launch sales in Cannes, but Searchlight has been all over it since Berlin. There were five offers but Searchlight won the day.Adams and Stacy O’Neil (Dead Ringers) will produce via their Bond Group banner, alongside Heller for Defiant By Nature, Archer Gray’s Anne Carey (20th Century Women), Annapurna’s Megan Ellison (Booksmart), Christina Oh (Minari) and Adam Paulsen (Pig), and Sue Naegle (Shirley), with Annapurna’s Sammy Scher and Defiant By Nature’s Havilah Brewster serving as exec producers.
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