Award-winning studio NEON announced today it has acquired the North American rights to Chloe Okuno’s (Watcher) horror film Brides starring Maika Monroe.
Monroe recently starred in Osgood Perkins’ horror film Longlegs for NEON, which is the highest grossing independent film of the year at $75 million domestically. Pre-production is now underway and it is set to begin shooting in March 2025. NEON will release the film theatrically.
The film will be produced by Anthony Bregman and Stefanie Azpiazu through Likely Story. Okuno will direct the film which is based on her original screenplay. Sally Bishop (Monroe) and her husband travel to a remote Italian villa where the villa’s owner, a mysterious count, takes a peculiar interest in Sally.
The deal for Brides was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman and Jason Wald on behalf of NEON. FilmNation Entertainment launched international sales at the American Film Market in Las Vegas last month. UTA Independent Film Group represented global and domestic rights.
The deal comes after NEON recently released Anora, Sean Baker’s highly acclaimed film starring Mikey Madison, which won the coveted Palme d’Or in Cannes and opened in select theaters October 18 to the highest per-screen average of 2024; and Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney. Last month, NEON won studio of the year at the 2024 Clio Entertainment Awards, making it the first indie to win the award.
The studio has continued to expand its production capabilities, most recently on the highly anticipated Boots Riley feature I Love Boosters starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, Demi Moore, Eiza González, Poppy Liu, Taylour Paige, and Will Poulter; They Follow, the long-awaited sequel to the modern horror classic It Follows from visionary writer/director David Robert Mitchell, also starring Maika Monroe; and Michael Covino’s Splitsville starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona.
Rounding out the year, NEON recently released Josh Oppenheimer’s The End, a golden-age musical starring Academy Award®-winner Tilda Swintono on Dec. 6th and the studio’s last upcoming release for 2024 is the genre-bending, visionary documentary 2073 from Academy Award®-winning and BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia which will be released in select U.S. theaters on December 27th, following its well-received world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and screenings at the BFI London Film Festival, Sitges, and others.
