Marvel writers Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari have been hit up by Sony to pen the screenplay for the company’s next big horror film, Gnomes.
Per Deadline, the co-writers behind 2018’s Ant-Man & the Wasp and 2022’s No Exit will be taking a crack at expanding a Dutch short film of the same name into a full-length flick. That short was co-written by Jasper ten Hoor, Richard Raaphorst, and Ruwan Heggelman, with the latter taking over directing duties. (He’ll also direct the film version.) It premiered at 2020’s Fantastic Fest and at 2022’s Marché du Film during Cannes. Earlier this month, Sony acquired movie rights for the original Gnomes short earlier this month in what was said to be a “competitive situation.”
In the original Gnomes short, a young girl stumbled upon glowing mushrooms, which later ends up going south once she crosses paths with a tribe of killer gnomes. However, the details of the full-length movie, and how much of the short film will carry over (if at all), are currently under wraps. Either way, it continues the trend of horror movies being adapted from short films. Last year’s breakout hit Smile was based on director Parker Finn’s 2020 short Laura Hasn’t Slept, and Finn turned the short into a prequel to Smile, complete with a cameo from its actor Caitlin Stasey. The same thing happened with last year’s Spanish horror film Piggy; it spun off from director/writer Carlota Pereda’s 2019 short of the same name and actor Laura Galán played the main role in both versions.
At time of writing, Gnomes the film is said to be in early development.