Curiosidades

Deadline Hollywood reported that New Line Cinema won the spec script in a bidding war against, allegedly, Universal, Netflix and Sony/TriStar. The Hollywood Reporter detailed that part of the deal were a eight figure sum of money, a guaranteed greenlight for production, final cut privileges for Cregger, interest in a backend pot and, most importantly in closing the deal, the guarantee of a theatrical release. Insiders called it a unprecedented deal in modern times and is compared to M. Night Shyamalan deals post El sexto sentido (1999).

Netflix was ready to pay more money upfront than New Line, but a assured theatrical release and New Line's track record with horror were the better selling point.

Viewers at an early test screening praised the film for its perfect balance of horror comedy and small town drama, calling it a worthy successor to the early horror films of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson; furthermore, the film was said to bear similarities to the films of Bong-Joon Ho along with late 90s/early 2000s horror mystery movies like The Ring, What Lies Beneath, and Sleepy Hollow.

Shortly after the announcement of the film, first rumors stated that the story will revolve around "witchcraft and missing children".

Acording to Deadline, Universal Pictures was the only other studio, aside from New Line, to have gotten close to getting the deal. Jordan Peele would have produced through his Monkeypaw studio with Universal, but the offer made by them was 7 million dollars less than New Line's proposal. Peele was supposedly ready to provide that amount of money out of his contractual back end, but Universal were uneasy about the budget as a business proposition and walked away. Peele and Cregger shared the same Manager, Peter Principato, which might have caused a conflict of interest. Peele later parted ways with his Management Artists First.