Paramount has been assembling a horror project over the last two years that a good chunk of the genre’s audience openly hoped would fall apart, but the studio has now handed the project a wide release and prime early-summer slot, instead. The date puts it directly opposite a family blockbuster, which is either confident counterprogramming or a daring coincidence, depending on how much faith you have in mainstream audiences following a filmmaker into territory this genuinely unpleasant.
The film is Parker Finn’s remake of Possession, and the original isn’t the sort of property studios usually go near. Written by Andrzej Żuławski, the 1981 version was created during the collapse of his own marriage and shot in West Berlin, still split by the Wall. The film follows a spy returning home from a job to find his wife asking for a divorce and behaving in suddenly inhuman ways. It was cut, banned as a video nasty, and largely written off on release, but now sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Isabelle Adjani’s Cannes-winning performance as Anna referred to by many as untouchable.
Paramount will open Finn’s new version wide on June 11, 2027, reports The Hollywood Reporter, with Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner signed on to play the central couple (previously portrayed by Adjani and Sam Neill). Paul Dano, Diego Calva, Madeline Brewer, Emory Cohen, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez round out a cast that’s been assembled in stages over the last few months, with Robert Pattinson originally attached to star back in 2024 before deferring to a producer role alongside Finn, Jonathan Fass, Roy Lee, and Andrew Childs.
The June date is somewhat surprising, as the film now opens against Universal’s live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 and a week after Brie Larson’s horror movie Skeletons, which is strange company for a film whose whole selling point is the visceral portrayal of a nervous breakdown wrapped in body horror packaging.
Finn has the receipts to do what he wants, though, with Smile turning a $17 million budget into $217.4 million at the box office in 2022 and its sequel adding roughly £132 million on top with a $28 million budget. The pair pushed the franchise past $355 million worldwide, bringing the director a first-look deal at Paramount and a license to pick something more ‘challenging’. He’s described the remake as “completely bonkers” and is shooting on 35mm, though Adjani herself has given Qualley her blessing, telling Numéro that the younger actor was “incredibly talented.”
Qualley, fresh off a run that includes The Substance and Honey Don’t, is the obvious draw, while Turner is the variable, given that he remains the bookmakers’ favorite to be announced as the next James Bond before the end of the year. That’s a decision that would leave Paramount with 007 in its most unmarketable summer release.
