The studio behind Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films has won the rights to adapt Grady Hendrix’s recent horror novel, How to Sell a Haunted House, into a movie.
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How to Sell a Haunted House
Variety broke the news that Legendary Entertainment won the rights in a competitive bidding situation and that New Zealand-based Māori filmmaker, James Ashcroft (Coming Home in the Dark), is on board to direct. Hendrix will adapt his own book into a screenplay.
How To Sell A Haunted House centers around a woman who, after her elderly parents die in a tragic accident, has to work with her estranged brother to sell their childhood home. The house is full of many, many puppets (her mother was a puppeteer) and more than one of them is up to no good, folks (although their leader is Pupkin, who is little more than a glorified sock puppet…who murders).
Things are still in very early days for the project, so there’s no news on if/when the project will go into production much less make its way to a theater near you. This is also only one work of Hendrix’s that is being adapted for film or television. Amazon Studios recently released a movie version of his book, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and We Sold Our Souls and Horrorstör adaptations are in the works at New Republic. Final Girl Support Group is also at HBO Max (either HBO or Max now, I’m not sure) and is being developed into a television series.
