Screen Gems & ‘Smile’ Producers Temple Hill Team For Hot Horror Novel ‘The Rule Of Three’
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EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Screen Gems has acquired The Rule of Three, an upcoming horror novel by Sam Ripley, a pseudonym for a well-established author.
Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will produce the film, and they are out to writers to script the tale even as the novel’s publishing plans formulate. Simon & Schuster UK will publish the book in June, and Emily Bestler at Simon & Schuster U.S. just pre-empted U.S. rights in a six-figure deal.
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Sam Ripley is a pseudonym for a bestselling British author whose works have sold over a million copies globally. They aren’t divulging the author’s identity at this point.
Bowen and Godfrey are coming off the sleeper horror hit Smile, which has passed the $215 million mark worldwide, and has a sequel in the works.
The title comes from this chilling intro: Don’t forget The Rule of Three/It’s coming for you/Like it came for me.
Can you change your own fate? That question haunts three women. As they become increasingly convinced that a mysterious urban myth called the Rule of Three is real, they must find a way to break the curse or be doomed to die like those who came before them. But when you’re not sure if what you think is happening is even the truth, how do you know if you are actually in danger? And if you don’t know, how will you be able to protect yourself? If death comes in threes, who will survive, and who will solve the Rule of Three?
Temple Hill’s George Berman brought in the book and will oversee development alongside Ethan Cappello. Scott Strauss and Dan Primozic orchestrated the deal for Screen Gems. Strauss and Michael Bitar will oversee the project for the studio.
CAA represented Ripley in the deal on behalf of James Wills at Watson, Little.
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