Lovers of cryptid creatures rejoice as Sony is making a movie relevant to your interests. The studio has acquired a script for a film titled Yeti from writer Peter Gaffney. The news, which was first reported by Deadline, explains that the studio won an auction for the script, with them paying in the six-figure range for the rights. As the title is not super mysterious, it’s not hard to figure out what this movie is about.
Jon Silk is set to produce the film via his Picturestart production company, which has a first-look deal at Sony. No word yet on how soon this one could go into production, but it sounds like it’s in the very early stages. No director or cast is attached, and it’s likely that Sony will want to do some development on the script before committing money to filming. As for the story at hand? The synopsis reads as follows:
“Yeti takes place deep in the mountains, where an avalanche unleashes something primeval from the glacial ice. A father and his daughter battle to survive a merciless predator who blends in with the snow.”
Despite being wildly popular as “are they real or are they not” legends, Hollywood has committed very few resources to making movies about Bigfoot, Yeti, or any other ape-like creatures. Sure, we’ve had plenty of direct-to-video films like 2010’s Bigfoot or 2008’s Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon. There are also family-friendly takes on the creatures, such as Harry and the Hendersons or the animated Abominable. But as far as studio-produced, horror-focused efforts go? It’s few and far between. We do have Sasquatch Sunset coming out later this year, but that appears to be less of an outright horror movie and more of a bizarre affair.
Sony has been investing more in horror in general lately, with Gary Dauberman (It, Annabelle Comes Home) signing a first-look deal with the studio’s Screen Gems division last year to help increase the studio’s genre profile. Horror has been incredibly reliable at the box office in recent years, and that’s not something that can be said of many other genres in the pandemic era. So why not finally make some cryptid horror movies? Let’s get some Loch Ness Monster and Chupacabra movies going while we’re at it.
Yeti does not currently have a release date.
