LAIKA’S PARANORMAN RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN IN REMASTERED REALD 3D FOR EXCLUSIVE HALLOWEEN RUN FEATURING A BRAND-NEW CG SHORT FILM STARRING ANNA KENDRICK AND FINN WOLFHARD: "LAIKA’s award-winning stop-motion animated film ParaNorman returns this Halloween for a one-week theatrical engagement.
As with the record-breaking 15th Anniversary 2024 re-release of Coraline in 2D and RealD 3D, LAIKA will bring the gloriously remastered ParaNorman (originally released in 2012) to global audiences in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing in international markets premiering Thursday, October 23 and Fathom Entertainment in the US premiering Saturday, October 25.
LAIKA’s delightful second film, which garnered multiple awards including Oscar®, BAFTA® and Golden Globe nominations, as well as multiple ANNIE Awards®, was written by Chris Butler (Missing Link, ParaNorman) and directed by Butler and Sam Fell (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget). Offered in stunning, newly remastered RealD 3D and 2D formats, ParaNorman’s return launches a year-long 20th Anniversary celebration of LAIKA, it was announced today at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The studio’s new, CG animated short film, ParaNorman: The Thrifting is directed by LAIKA’s lead character designer Thibault LeClercq and written by Chris Butler. The short features the voice work of Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard and Anna Kendrick reprising her role of Norman’s older sister, Courtney Babcock. Produced in association with Passion Pictures, ParaNorman: The Thrifting will be attached to the re-release screenings.
Coraline’s re-release success last year signaled an audience desire for repertory cinema as moviegoers re-discover older films, especially accessible horror titles that families can enjoy together. Coraline’s return scored $56M in worldwide box office, making it one of the biggest global film re-releases of the past decade and the highest grossing stop-motion movie of all time.
“ParaNorman was a breakthrough film for LAIKA -- emotionally rich, visually daring, and proudly weird in all the right ways,” said LAIKA’s Chief Marketing & Operations Officer David Burke. “Bringing it back to theaters in stunning remastered 3D, paired with a brand-new short film, is an invitation for audiences to rediscover the heart and humor of Norman’s world -- or experience it for the first time. Today, horror has become a shared family ritual, and ParaNorman sits right at the intersection of spooky and meaningful. It’s the perfect ‘starter horror’ -- a gateway into genre storytelling that’s as thoughtful as it is thrilling.”
”Fathom is very pleased to extend our distribution partnership with LAIKA and bring the critically acclaimed ParaNorman back to US audiences this Halloween in both 2D and RealD 3D and with the exclusive consumer added value feature, ParaNorman: The Thrifting,” said Ray Nutt, Fathom Entertainment’s Chief Executive Officer. “Coraline consumers voted with their wallets last year, resulting in approximately 70% of the record-breaking $34M+ U.S. theatrical box office coming in 3D. ParaNorman is the ideal, spooky follow-up for audiences to enjoy on the big screen later this year.”
“Following the incredible global response to Coraline's theatrical re-release, which surpassed its original box office run in some international markets, we’re thrilled to partner with LAIKA once again to bring ParaNorman back to the big screen this Fall,” said Kymberli Frueh, SVP of Programming and Content Acquisitions at Trafalgar Releasing. “ParaNorman is a visually stunning, emotionally resonant film that deserves to be experienced in theaters -- both in 2D and in vividly remastered RealD 3D. We can’t wait for audiences around the world to rediscover this groundbreaking stop-motion classic.”
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FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES “THE OTHER AMERICA: A COSMOLOGY OF JORDAN PEELE’S US,” JUNE 20-26: "Film at Lincoln Center announces “The Other America: A Cosmology of Jordan Peele’s Us,” running from June 20–26.
Hailed as “a colossal achievement” and “blissfully ambitious” upon its 2019 release, Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature Us plumbed everything from American isolationist fears and labyrinthine power structures to the rich lineage of the doppelgänger motif and home-invasion thrillers. It also left just as many audiences enthralled and mystified as it prompted those to obsessively pore over its coincidences, paradoxes, and symbology in the years that followed.
Now with the recent publication Us: The Complete Annotated Screenplay by Inventory Press, in-depth footnotes, commentaries, marginalia, and a constellation of images, definitions, and inspirations have untethered entirely new references orbiting the film—everything and everyone from W. E. B. Du Bois, C.H.U.D., Sylvia Plath, and Oscar Micheaux, to Donnie Darko, Lewis Carroll, The Beach Boys, and more. This June, Film at Lincoln Center will interpret the cosmology outlined in this book through a
presentation of double features, supplementary reading material, in-person appearances from some of the book’s contributing writers, and never-before-seen 35mm presentations of Us.
This 35mm-heavy series embraces the multitudes contained in Peele’s 2019 feature. Films are grouped under recurring motifs—“The Shadow Self,” “The Uncanny,” “Labyrinths,” “Rabbits,” “The Uniform”—each drawing out a distinct thread in Peele’s vision. Some titles speak directly to Us through shared iconography: the indelible red scrubs of Dead Ringers, the scissor-wielding White Rabbit of Alice (screening from a rare imported print), the mirrored maze in The Lady from Shanghai, and the implements of psychological unraveling in Scissors and Dead Again. Others echo the film’s deeper fixations: A Nightmare on Elm Street weaponizing domestic space and repressed memories, C.H.U.D. and Donnie Darko spiraling through conspiratorial underworlds and looping timelines.
The series will include a range of in-person events featuring writers and special guests who contributed to Us: The Complete Annotated Screenplay. Opening Night kicks off with a two-for-one 35mm double feature: Oscar Micheaux’s silent classic Body and Soul featuring live grand piano accompaniment by Makia Matsumura, followed by a conversation between Shana L. Redmond, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University, and Michael Gillespie, Associate Professor in NYU’s Department of Cinema Studies, and a reception. The evening will conclude with a screening of an unseen print of Us from Peele’s personal collection.
Fashion designer Mary Ping and Mellissa Huber, Associate Curator at The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will discuss costume design and the visual politics of the Tethered’s red uniform in Us. Later in the week, following a 35mm screening of Nightbreed, writer and designer Leila Taylor and filmmaker Sierra Pettengill will explore the subterranean parallels between Clive Barker’s Midian and the Underpass imagined in Us.
Copies of the annotated screenplay will be available for purchase at all in-person events, with an option to bundle the book with a ticket to the Opening Night double feature or a signed copy with a series
All-Access Pass. Throughout the series, audiences will also be treated to curated preshows and playlists, along with suggested supplemental readings for those eager to venture even deeper down the rabbit hole.
Organized by Florence Almozini and Tyler Wilson in collaboration with Monkeypaw Productions and Inventory Press."
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Lose Yourself in the Twisted Reality of Blumhouse Horrorverse Today in Meta Horizon Worlds: "The Blumhouse beckons. Immerse yourself in terror—or terrify others—in Blumhouse HORRORVERSE, a new world you can visit today in Meta Horizon on Meta Quest.
Blumhouse HORRORVERSE is like stepping into a horror movie. The social space lets you experience the frightening worlds and franchises made famous by Universal Pictures and the horror masters at Blumhouse, including M3GAN, The Purge, Wolf Man, The Black Phone, and more, both in Meta Horizon and on mobile. The immersive world from Brazilian Emmy Award-winning studio ARVORE and Monks, is full of activities and scares inspired by Blumhouse for you to experience alone or with other people, and it also gives you the chance to do the scaring.
Enter the world and you’ll first find yourself in a spine-chilling forest to explore, where you can meet up with other horror fans and experience your favorite Blumhouse stories like never before. The world offers rich and immersive social experiences, with lots of ways to connect, play, share, and express themselves within its frightening settings.
"I'm thrilled to bring Blumhouse HORRORVERSE to life in Meta Horizon," said Sarah Malkin, Director of Reality Labs Entertainment Content at Meta. "This immersive experience lets horror fans interact with iconic Blumhouse movies and monsters. What excites me most is giving audiences more of what they love, and a platform to share their passion with others who feel the same way."
Standing at the center of the forest is Blumhouse HORRORVERSE’s most chilling attraction: the Blumhouse. The eerie edifice contains a number of twisting rooms, haunting activities, and terrifying secrets. But enter at your own peril, because while inside, you run the risk of being caught in Survival Lockdown, a game that’ll force you to find a way to survive and escape the house—or give you a chance to strike fear into the other Horizon players unlucky enough to have been caught inside with you.
Survival Lockdown pits players in the Blumhouse against one another. As many as seven players will be assigned the role of survivor, tasked with working together to search the house for keycards that can lift the lockdown. But one randomly chosen player will take on the role of the Villain, letting you play the role of Blumhouse’s most frightening characters, like Lady Liberty from The Purge, M3GAN’s unhinged robot, or the ever-smiling Babyface of Happy Death Day. As the Villain, your job is to hunt down the survivors one by one and eliminate them before they can escape the Blumhouse.
Once the lockdown is lifted, one way or another, you can venture back outside the Blumhouse to take part in more creepy exploration and to take part in a number of activities. You can hone your skills for Purge Night at The Purge practice range, score points in the Black Phone Balloon Hunt, and unleash your inner beast in Wolf Man’s Greenhouse Battle.
“Blumhouse has always looked for new ways to bring fans closer to the stories they love. HORRORVERSE is our most immersive experience yet—something that lets people step inside our worlds, connect with other horror fans, and even become the villain. With Meta, we’re not just pushing boundaries—we’re building a space where you don’t just experience horror—you exist inside it,” said Karen Barragan, Blumhouse Chief Marketing Officer.
There’s even a screening area where you can catch exclusive Blumhouse content, like movie clips and trailers for upcoming films and TV shows.
Meta Horizon brings you into the world of Blumhouse in unique ways that aren’t possible anywhere else through the Meta Quest platform, allowing you to feel truly present and connected to other people and the digital world. On Quest, social experiences like Worlds such as Blumhouse HORRORVERSE let you spend time together with friends and strangers no matter where you are in the world or what device you’re using. Horizon even lets you build your own virtual spaces that you can invite others to join you in.
You can RSVP to immerse yourself in the fear, or become someone else’s worst nightmare, in Blumhouse HORRORVERSE today HERE. Check it out in Meta Horizon, available for free on the Meta Horizon Store. The experience will also be available on the web at https://horizon.meta.com and via the Meta Horizon mobile app."
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WENT UP THE HILL Trailer: "Abandoned as a child, Jack travels to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother Elizabeth. There he meets her widow, Jill, who has questions of her own. Over the nights that follow, Elizabeth returns and possesses Jack and Jill, using each of their bodies to speak to the other. Jill faces Elizabeth’s suicide, while Jack confronts his abandonment. As they learn she is trapped in limbo, Jack begins to doubt Elizabeth’s reason for returning. Caught in a life-threatening nocturnal dance, Jack and Jill must find a way to let go of Elizabeth’s hold before she pushes them to the edge.
WENT UP THE HILL is a psychological drama inspired by writer/director Samuel Van Grinsven’s memories of his childhood in New Zealand’s South Island. An intimate, modern ghost story that explores the extremities of grief in our pursuit of letting go."
IN THEATERS AUGUST 15
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ICONIC Trailer: "An offbeat beauty industry “celebrity” struggles to maintain her lifestyle and sanity after an internet scandal, new love interest and obsessive and violent new fan base turn her life upside down."
Distributor: Jinga Films
Production Companies: Good Trip | Bad Trip, Respect The Funk
Release Date: July 15th, 2025
Written and Directed By: Matthew Freiheit
Cast: Emma Jade, Alyssa Anthony, Noor Dabash, Roxette Arisa, Dylan Bonansinga, Cherish Waters, Blake Eiermann, Davi Stefond, Frankie Tanimal, Tom DeSanto, Chris Boudreaux
Produced By: Carisa Arellano, Gabriel Dos Santos, Matthew Freiheit
Co-Producers: Connor Haines & Nathan Doherty
Director of Photography: Matthew Freiheit
Production Design: Cassidy & Sienna Wurtz
Editors: Matthew Freiheit & Tim Mirkovich
Costume Designer: Sophia Rahimi
Music Composer: Tyler Stone
Runtime: 90 minutes
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
