Award-winning studio NEON announced today that it has acquired the US rights to The Monkey, based on the 1980 Stephen King short story of the same name, starring Theo James (The White Lotus), Tatiana Maslany (She–Hulk: Attorney at Law), Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (The Hardy Boys) and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek). The horror movie is written and directed by Osgood Perkins and recently wrapped filming in March. NEON is planning a theatrical release in 2025.
James Wan and Michael Clear produced for Atomic Monster; Dave Caplan for C2 Motion Picture Group. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones for Range Select; Chris Ferguson for Odd Fellows. Exec producers are Range’s Fred Berger, Stars Collective’s Peter Luo and Nancy Xu, and John Friedberg for Black Bear, who is also representing the international sales rights. C2 financed the film.
The deal was negotiated by CFO Ryan Friscia, SVP of Business and Legal Affairs Emily Thomas and VP of Acquisitions and Production Jason Wald for NEON with CAA Media Finance, UTA Independent Film Group and Range Select on behalf of the filmmakers. NEON’s acquisition of the film further extends its relationship with Perkins, Odd Fellows, Range Media Partners, and C2 in advance of Perkins’ next film Longlegs starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe, which NEON will release in U.S. theaters on July 12th. NEON acquired worldwide rights and launched sales in Cannes this year on Perkins’ Keeper, starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland, also produced by Range and Odd Fellows.
When twin brothers Hal and Bill (Played by Theo James in later years, Christian Convery plays the younger twins) discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.
