Octavia Spencer in 2019’s ‘Ma’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
- Octavia Spencer will return for a ‘Ma’ sequel.
- Blumhouse announced the movie at its inaugural “Business of Fear” event.
- No director is attached yet.
The Blumhouse team, for all of its dedication to making original movies, has not been shy about commissioning sequels to its successes, and building franchises, albeit still making titles on a thrifty budget.
At the company’s recent “Business of Fear” event, boss Jason Blum, in collaboration with creative partner James Wan of Atomic Monster (the two companies signed a pact to work together), announced that one such movie getting the follow-up treatment is 2019 thriller ‘Ma,’ with star Octavia Spencer confirmed to return.
While the original movie was written by Scotty Landes and directed by Tate Taylor, we don’t yet know who will be working on the sequel.
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Here’s Blum talking about the new movie in a statement:
“ ‘Ma’ has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. As Ma likes to say ‘don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round.”
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What was the story of ‘Ma’?
Octavia Spencer and the cast of 2019’s ‘Ma’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
The original film followed a group of high schoolers (played by Diana Silvers, Corey Fogelmanis, McKaley Miller, Gianni Paolo and Dante Brown) who find an unlikely, intergenerational friend in Sue Ann Ellington, a lonesome veterinarian and devoted party animal played by Spencer.
The woman, affectionately called “Ma,” allows the teens to party in her basement, but things get bloody once their relationship starts to sour –– as it turns out, “Ma” has a complicated history with the several of the teens’ parents. And she’s out for vengeance…
Where might a ‘Ma’ sequel go?
Octavia Spencer in 2019’s ‘Ma’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
That’s the big question at this point –– and spoiler alert if you didn’t see the first movie.
‘Ma’ ends with Sue Ann stabbed and cuddling with the dead body of her own high school crush, Ben (Luke Evans) as her house starts to burn down around her.
But if we’ve learned anything from horror movies in the past, it’s that the villain, especially one as complicated as Sue Ann, rarely lets a little thing like presumably certain death get in the way of returning.
There are any number of avenues this potential follow-up could take –– even a prequel is possible. But our money is on Ma getting back to her old ways, and likely looking to exact revenge on more people, especially those who survived the original.
Where else can we find Octavia Spencer?
Octavia Spencer as Kimberly in Apple TV+’s ‘Spirited .’
From her early days in tiny supporting roles (blink and miss her in the likes of Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man,’‘Being John Malkovich’ and ‘S.W.A.T.’), Spencer has steadily grown into a versatile performer who can pull off both comedy and drama –– and often both together in one performance.
She’s memorable in a wealth of roles but enjoyed a big breakout via ‘The Help’ (also directed by longtime friend Taylor), for which she won a Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for her portrayal of Minny Jackson.
Elsewhere, she scored further nominations for her work in ‘Hidden Figures’ and ‘The Shape of Water’ and was most recently seen in Apple TV+ holiday movie ‘Spirited.’
And in TV terms, she’s been equally busy, including another Apple project, drama series ‘Truth be Told.’
Spencer is also active as a producer, setting up various projects to appear in, but also helping filmmakers get their projects made.
What else did Blumhouse announce at its event?
Jigsaw in 2023’s ‘Saw X’. Photo: Lionsgate Films.
Among the other projects that Jason Blum and others announced at the event is an adaptation of paranormal horror video game title ‘Phasmophobia.’
That was released in 2020, developed and published by British indie game studio Kinetic Games. The game has surpassed 23 million in global sales and has become a genre-defining title in multiplayer horror gaming.
The game is an investigation survival game played from a first-person point of view. The player can work alone or with a group of people to identify the type of ghost haunting a specific location. No talent is attached to that one yet.
And that wasn’t the only news, as Blum also brought word that the company is in the midst of a deal to acquire the rights to venerable horror franchise ‘Saw’ from Twisted Pictures’ Mark Burg and Oren Koules.
Lionsgate will continue to be involved as a partner and continue to own 50% of the franchise.
Most notably, it brings the movie series closer back to Wan, who co-wrote with Leigh Whannell and directed the 2004 movie that kicked the whole saga off. He’s since served as an executive producer on the other films.
An 11th movie has been in development, and at one point had been scheduled for this September. But creative differences have led to it stalling –– hopes are likely high that Wan and co. can get things back on track.
Here’s what Blum told IndieWire about the team’s process these days:
“It’s much harder to do what we started doing 15 years ago. So the way that we’ve addressed that is by adding a bit of money to our model; but still, by studio standards, for instance, the budgets of our movies are 60% off the average sticker price, actually probably more, 75% off, the average sticker price.”
When will the ‘Ma’ sequel stalk on to screens?
It’s very early in the process for this one, despite the announcement and Spencer’s involvement, the movie has yet to confirm a director (though Taylor could always be tempted back) and Blumhouse hasn’t set a release date.
Presumably, that will all be firmed up once the movie actually has a creative plan in place.
‘M3GAN’ producer and CEO of Blumhouse Productions Jason Blum.
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