Lionsgate Howls For Chandler Baker Short Story ‘Big Bad,’ Chris Landon Directs Post-‘Scream 7’ Exit; Todd Lieberman Producing Werewolf Thriller

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is closing a deal to purchase a package that will have Chandler Baker adapt her short story Big Bad for Chris Landon to direct. Todd Lieberman and Hidden Pictures will produce with Landon.

It’s Landon’s first new attachment after dropping out of directing Scream 7, in a chain of events that started with Spyglass firing actress Melissa Barrera after a salvo of social media the Scream franchise backer felt was anti-Semitic. This was after the Oct 7 terror attack in Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza. Jenna Ortega then dropped out, and Landon followed.   

Author of the bestseller Whisper Network, Baker wrote this short story as part of the anthology novel Creature Feature. Here is the logline for what has the potential to be a howling good werewolf movie, when the story was published last fall: The Strauss family is on knife’s edge. Sam is a resentful stay-at-home dad. Rachel feels the restlessness in her blood returning. Their children are getting out of hand. And a recent mudslide has forced the wolves out of the woods to look for food. As dusk falls and tensions rise, the family must come together to survive the night—from the threats outside and those within.

Lionsgate’s Scott O’Brien will oversee the project. Carly Kleinbart is the exec for Hidden Pictures, alongside Lieberman. Alex Young will be executive producer. Lionsgate’s Robert Melnik is overseeing the dealmaking for the studio

Baker is repped by CAA, Writers House and Mosaic, while Landon is WME, Mosaic and Goodman Genow.