The Conjuring and Aquaman helmer James Wan has just officially revealed the title for his next horror movie. In a post on Instagram, Wan tells fans principal photography has begun on the upcoming project by showing them the slate used for the day’s shoot. On the slate is the title for the movie, which will be called Malignant. “First day of principal photography on the 10th feature film of my career,” Wan says in the photo’s caption. He adds, “Really excited for this one.” You can take a look at the photo below.
In addition to directing, James Wan is co-producing and co-writing Malignant with his fianc&é Ingrid Bisu. At this time, there isn’t much known about the plot, other than that it will be a “Giallo horror” movie, reminiscent of a particular sub-genre of horror made famous by Italian cinema. Starring in the movie will be Maddie Hasson, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Abel, George Young, Michole Briana White, and Jacqueline McKenzie. Wan is helming the project under his Atomic Monster banner with New Line Cinema handling distribution.
Related: James Wan’s New Horror Movie Is an Old School Hard-R Original with Practical Effects
Doing a new horror movie is Wan going back to his roots, as it was in the genre where the filmmaker got his first big break. Along with co-writer Leigh Whannell, Wan created the Saw franchise by helming the original movie in 2004. Although Wan wouldn’t return to direct any of the follow-up movies, he stayed on board as a producer for the following six sequels and the soft reboot Jigsaw. Even after eight movies, the franchise is still just as alive as it ever was, as the next installment is also currently in the works with Chris Rock producing. Rock will also star in the movie alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols. Darren Lynn Bousman is directing, using a screenplay by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger.
Of course, Wan would go on to achieve even greater success in the horror genre by creating another popular movie franchise with a shared universe that continues to expand. In addition to helming Insidious and its sequel, Wan also directed the first Conjuring movie, which has evolved into one of the highest-grossing horror movie franchises of all time. The filmmaker has since directed The Conjuring 2 as well, and the shared universe of the movies has expanded to include spin-offs like The Nun, The Curse of La Llorona, and the Annabelle movies. While Wan has made an even bigger name for himself by helming Aquaman for Warner Bros. and DC, the director’s love for the horror genre appears to keep him coming back.
Wan has plenty of other upcoming projects for fans to look out for as well. He’s producing an all-new Mortal Kombat movie reboot which has already begun production, and is also adapting I Know What You Did Last Summer as a TV series for Amazon. In 2022, he’ll be back in the director’s chair for Aquaman 2 as well. News of Malignant getting its official title comes to us from James Wan on Instagram.
