Motion Picture: Maggie Kang On Using Fear To Create New Stories, New Apple Original Film In The Work With Justin Lin Directing
Madison De La Garza - John Sciulli/Stringer
Action/Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Former Desperate Housewives star Madison De La Garza has finished production on her debut horror film titled Sara Sarita. Based on Mexican folklore, the film is set in Camp Marigold, which carries a bad reputation, and when protagonist Elena finds out her grandma unleashed a demon on the camp 40 years ago, she feels it’s up to her to stop it. La Garza co-wrote and directed with Kate Queen, and the film stars Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) in one of his final on-screen roles. The film is slated for a Halloween 2026 release.
J.R. Ramirez (Power) and Emilio Del Real have been cast as the leading roles in the upcoming horror-fantasy film titled The Mouth Of The Furnace. Colombian writer-director Filipe Vargas (Rosario) is helming the project while Autonomous FX and Selene Films collaborate on the project. The film is set to reimagine one of Colombia's most popular folktales. Production has kicked up in the Dominican Republic with no set release date.
Joining the cast of the upcoming historical thriller, Pedro Pan, is Yara Martinez (Bull). The film aims to tell a dramatized version of the real-life rescue operation, Pedro Pan, which aimed to secretly get Cuban children into the United States due to parents fearing their parental custody would be taken away by the Castro regime and children indoctrinated, although nothing of the sort ever happened. Character details are being kept under wraps. The plot follows a socialite school teacher and a catholic priest as they spearhead the operation. Richie Adams is directing the film based on a script he wrote with Bart Gavigan (End Of The Spear). The film is set to enter production in Mexico early next month.
Double Garage Films and Agustina San Martín are making a new psychological horror film titled Psyche. The film cast Isabela Merced (The Last Of Us) as the character Camila. Psyche is set in the Greek islands and follows American backpackers who find themselves involved in an illegal archeological dig, which accidentally awakens the goddess Psyche and a spirit bent on revenge. No release date has been announced. San Martín is set to direct and co-wrote the script for the film. No release date has been announced.
Justin lin - Isaiah Trickey
Comedy/Musical/Drama: Apple Original Films is developing a new adventure-comedy film titled That Man From Rio, with Justin Lin set to direct. The project aims to remake a 1964 French film of the same name. The Man From Rio follows the story of a young private on military leave who saves his girlfriend, who has been kidnapped and taken to Rio de Janeiro. Lin will be producing through his company, Perfect Storm Entertainment. Kevin J. Walsh will also be working on the project under his production company, The Walsh Company. Walsh, being a fan of the film, wanted to secure the rights to remake it, eventually bringing the project to Lin. No further information has been announced.
Kaouther Ben Hania’s film, The Voice Of Hind Rajab, which uses the actual recording of a six-year-old girl’s passing during an IDF bombing, is getting a release in the United States. The film won awards this year in Venice, but that didn’t attract any U.S. distributors. Despite this, the film has found its footing in the U.S. through the distribution branch of the film's production company, WILLA. It will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 17, 2025.
Chloe Bailey (Grown-ish), among five others, has been cast in The Julia Set. The film follows a talented mathematician named Julia, played by Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another), who finds herself in an extremely competitive academic environment. Things take a turn when a T.A. gets her into a challenging math course that aims to compete in the Putnam Exam. It is currently unknown what roles Bailey and the other five will play in the film. The project will be directed by Niki Byrne with no release date announced.
Kingsley Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love) and Archie Madekwe (Saltburn) have been cast as brothers in the upcoming drama film The Arrival. The film is based on a play by an Olivier Award-winning theatrical director, Bijan Sheibani, who also wrote the script for the film. The story follows a pair of brothers who were put up for adoption and separated. They reunite 30 years later, being forced to reconcile and see how their respective parents' decisions affected them. No release date has been announced.
Ariana Greenblatt - Taylor Hill
Industry Updates: The star of Lionsgate’s upcoming film Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Ariana Greenblatt, has signed with Creative Artists Agency. Greenblatt has had numerous roles in film, including Young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, Disney’s The One and Only Ivan, and Paramount’s Love and Monsters, to name a few.
Speaking of Lionsgate, they have recently acquired the distribution rights for The Furious from XYZ Films. The film was made in a style similar to Hong Kong's golden age of action films, with the deal covering distribution rights outside of mainland China. The plot follows tradesman Wang Wei as his daughter gets kidnapped by the criminal underworld. He and a journalist set out to rescue his daughter and bring her back home. No release date has been announced for the West.
Maggie Kang, responsible for the smash hit KPop Demon Hunters, shares some of her thought processes during the making of the film and what it means to try out new ideas in the industry, stating that the project was fueled by fear. In an interview, Kang said, “I think you should be scared to present stuff because that means that you’re doing something original and different.” Kang has worked on many films and says this project was heavily inspired by Korean mythology and a character with long braided hair called Rumi. Later on in the interview, she added, “We don’t know if people are going to like this. It could be too much. But we didn’t want to dumb it or water it down. We wanted to present it the way that we wanted to do it.” Kang goes on to say, “That’s scary at times. But I hope that we can see more projects and more movies that are just kind of fueled by fear, because that is true passion.”
