NEON and QC Entertainment board horror film from first-time feature director Bishal Dutta

NEON and QC Entertainment today announced they have signed on to make the untitled horror film from first-time feature director Bishal Dutta. QC Entertainment, the multi-Best Picture Oscar nominated producers of Get Out and BlacKkKlansman, will co-finance the film with Raymond Mansfield and Sean McKittrick producing and Edward H. Hamm Jr. executive producing. NEON, the distributor behind Best Picture winner Parasite, will co-finance and executive produce. 

Megan Suri (Fresh Off the Boat, Never Have I Ever), Neeru Bajwa (Jatt & Juliet 1 &2), Vik Sahay (Captain Marvel, Chuck) and Betty Gabriel (Get Out) will star in the original horror film. Principal photography is scheduled to start today in Vancouver, in association with British Columbia based Brightlight Pictures. NEON will distribute the film in the U.S.

The story is based partially on Indian legend, partially on a personal family story from Dutta’s grandfather, and partially on the filmmaker’s experience being born in India and then moving to and being raised in America.

Suri previously appeared in ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, and starred in the feature film Valentine’s Day, HBO’s The Brink and Netflix’s Atypical as well as booking her first title role in feature The Miseducation of Bindu alongside Priyanka Bose and David Arquette.  She will next be seen in Searching 2 opposite Storm Reid. 

Bajwa has appeared in numerous Punjabi cinema films including Saadi Love Story, Jatt and Juliet 1 & 2, and Channo Kamli Yaar Di among others. Bajwa is currently hosting the Punjabi show Jazba.

Sahay is best known for his roles in NBC’s Chuck and AMC’s Lodge 49. He has also appeared in several feature films including The Infiltrators, Disney’s Captain Marvel, Fox’s The Rocker, and Universal Pictures American Reunion.

Gabriel is best known for her performance as Georgina in Jordan Peele’s Get Out. She most recently starred in the Netflix limited series, Clickbait. Additional film credits include The Purge: Election Year, Upgrade and Unfriended: Dark Web. She will next be seen in the third season of the Amazon series Jack Ryan.

Dutta’s short Life In Color premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in 2018. His most recent horror short Inferno caught the eye of every genre agent in town and Dutta signed with WME. The short also caught the eye of James Wan and Atomic Monster who championed him to direct their upcoming untitled horror feature at New Line. 

Dutta is repped by WME, Rain Management Group and Goodman Schenkman Smelkinson + Christopher. Suri is repped by Management 360 and Skrzyniarz & Mallean; Bajwa is repped by Play Management; Sahay is repped by Buchwald, Noble Caplan Abrams, McKeon/ Myones Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead; Gabriel Betty is repped by ICM, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway Austen et al. 

QC Entertainment, led by partners McKittrick, Mansfield and Hamm, is renowned for championing bold storytellers and fresh stories that connect with audiences worldwide, both from veteran auteurs and new voices. QC Entertainment are the two-time Academy Award nominated producers behind several of the most critically and commercially successful contemporary films including Get Out and BlacKkKlansman. QC was involved in every facet of both films from buying the initial pitches to developing the scripts to on-set production to release. Both films led to back-to-back Academy Award Best Picture nominations and Academy Award-winning screenplays for the producers, while grossing more than $255 million and $100 million in global box office respectively. McKittrick also produced Peele’s sophomore effort Us, which opened to $70.3 million domestically in its opening weekend alone, the biggest opening ever for an original horror film, and went on to surpass more than $250 million in global box office.

NEON recently released Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane on October 1, with an upcoming slate that includes: Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, Pablo Larrain’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart; and Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World. The company recently acquired worldwide rights to: Beba, the debut film by New York Afro-Latina artist, Rebeca Huntt; The End which will star Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, George Mackay, and Stephen Graham; and Ninja Thyberg’s Sundance breakout Pleasure.