Scary movie maker Blumhouse–Atomic Monster and Canadian gaming studio Behaviour Interactive have tapped David Leslie Johnston-McGoldrick and Alexandre Aja to pen the feature adaptation of Dead by Daylight, Behaviour’s hit horror multiplayer game.
The project is emerging as unique union of the two talents who have never worked together before. Johnson-McGoldrick is a prolific scribe who has worked with Atomic Monster principal James Wan on several franchises, and was a key creative voice in The Conjuring Universe, working on three of the movies. Aja, meanwhile, is the French director and screenwriter known for his visceral takes on material, be it original or adapted, on The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D, or Crawl.
Aja is not directing Daylight as he is due to helm Under Paris 2 for Netflix. As such, and with the writers now in place and working, the companies are beginning the search for a director.
“What David and Alexandre bring to Dead by Daylight is a rare balance of character driven storytelling and relentless genre intensity,” said Jason Blum, Blumhouse’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “Drawing from survival horror and psychological terror, their work establishes a world where fear is not just experienced, but earned. It is a cinematic blueprint designed to attract a director who can elevate that vision through performance and scale.”
Launched in 2016, Daylight focused on a group of four survivors who must find a set of generators in order to escape a killer who seeks to sacrifice them using hooks to appease a being known as The Entity. The game has reached over 60 million players worldwide, building a massive global audience across platforms, and has also created an ever-expanding universe blending classic horror with new. In addition to the games on various platforms, Daylight has inspired board games, comics and even cosmetics. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster picked up the movie rights in 2023.
“Alexandre and David are two modern masters of horror, and their script celebrates a dark distinction, Dead by Daylight is a game, its world is a nightmare,” stated Stephen Mulrooney, producer and Behaviour’s chief product officer. “We look forward to working with a director who appreciates the depth of their story, and cannot wait to see their visceral vision brought to life.”
Wan, Blum and Mulrooney are producers on the adaptation. Executive producers include Behaviour’s Remi Racine, Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott, Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek, and Striker Entertainment’s Russell Binder.
Johnson-McGoldrick worked on The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring: Last Rites, and last year’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. He also co-wrote the latest installment in the Insidious franchise, and also worked with Wan on DC comic book movies Aquaman and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Further horror cred was racked up by writing 14 episodes of The Walking Dead.
Aja made his debut with French slasher Haute Tension in 2003 and then moved Stateside to direct and co-write a remake of Wes Craven’s classic The Hills Have Eyes. Among his directing works are the adaptation of Joe Hill novel Horns that starred Daniel Radcliffe, campy hit Piranha 3D and the 2019 crocodile thriller Crawl. He last directed the Halle Berry survival thriller Never Let Go.
Johnson-McGoldrick is repped by CAA and Behr Abramson. Aja is repped by WME, Industry Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson.
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