New Line Cinema approves sequel to Lights Out. The studio has given the green-light to a follow-up to the horror film from Swedish director David F. Sandberg.
Lights Out, which was made on a modest budget of $4.9 million, has already proven extremely successful with audiences, grossing $27 million at the domestic box office following it’s release this past weekend.
Believe it or not, the original project that the film was based on, a short of the same name, was made by Sandberg and his wife Lotta Losten with virtually no budget for a horror short competition. Despite not winning the contest, the short attracted attention to Sandburg and eventually led to New Line reaching out to the director for a big screen adaptation of the project:
Eric Heisserer will return to write the sequel and Sandberg will direct it. James Wan will be back as producer through his Atomic Monster banner, and so will Lawrence Grey through his Grey Matter banner. And what about the seven other shorts he directed? Sandberg said he’s in talks with New Line to acquire one of them, and he hopes to turn several others into feature films and owns rights to all of them. “I will also keep creating shorts, because they’re fun and there’s less pressure.”
Sandberg said he and his wife will write some of them, and she will have bigger acting roles in some of them, after she starred in Lights Out opposite Maria Bello, Theresa Palmer and Alexander DiPersia, and has a role in Annabelle 2. Sandberg and Losten have been sweethearts since age 11.
Leave your thoughts on New Line Cinema giving the green light to a sequel to David F. Sandberg’s horror film Lights Out (via Deadline) in the comments section below. For more Lights Out photos, videos, and information, visit our Lights Out Page, and consider subscribing to us by Email, “following” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, or “liking” us on Facebook for quick updates. No official release date has been offered for the untitled Lights Out sequel yet.