Serving as a prequel to Richard Donner’s 1976 horror classic, The First Omen is coming to cinemas on the 5th April 2024.
Hollywood’s love of horror continues! Following the success of The Exorcist: Believer, Five Nights At Freddy’s and Saw X, The First Omen is unleashed in cinemas next year.
The First Omen is a prequel to Richard Donner’s classic horror film The Omen, which revolved around the Thorn family who are raising, unbeknownst to mother Kathy, the Antichrist.
The Omen spawned three sequels as well as a 2006 remake starring Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber, but the original remains the most memorable and, frankly, terrifying film in the franchise. Films such as The Babadook, Let The Right One In and The Orphan owe a lot to the success and persuasive mood of The Omen.
Here’s the official synopsis:
When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.
Donner’s original grossed $60m back in the day, and the film starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Stephens. David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer received dreadful reviews from critics (including us!), but still went on to gross over $130m at the global box office against a $30m budget, making it a financial success and proving that horror is worth investing in. Of course, Blumhouse’s Five Nights At Freddy’s has been dominating the box office lately. Emma Tammi’s videogame adaptation has grossed a whopping $255m globally. For a film with a $20m budget, that’s a stellar performance.
The First Omen is directed by Arkasha Stevenson, who is making their feature directorial debut with the horror prequel. Ben Jacoby gets a story credit while the script has been penned by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas.
We can expect The First Omen to land in cinemas on the 5th April 2024 if everything goes to plan. Hollywood is still suffering from the aftermath of the writers and actors’ strikes and films are consistently getting delayed, but let’s hope The First Omen stays on course.
Read more: Interview | Five Nights At Freddy’s director Emma Tammi chats videogames and animatronics
