Searchlight Acquires Amy Adams Neo-Horror ‘Nightbitch’

Amy Adams will dazzle fans later this year with the highly-anticipated Disney+ Enchanted sequel, Disenchanted. Now, Disney is set to work with Adams much differently.

Searchlight Pictures has acquired Annapurna’s darkly comic horror film Nightbitch, starring six-time Academy Award nominee Adams. Disney acquired the project for $25 million+ in what insiders say was a competitive deal amongst other studios.

Based on Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name, Nightbitch tells the story of a woman thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler in the suburbs, who slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a canine.

Bond Group and Annapurna acquired film rights to Yoder’s book back in 2020 and developed the script alongside director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?). It marks a reemergence of Megan Ellison’s reconfigured Annapurna in the marketplace. The original plan was to launch sales in Cannes, but Searchlight has been all over it since Berlin. There were five offers but Searchlight won the day.

Amy Adams and Stacy O’Neil (Dead Ringers) will produce via their Bond Group banner, alongside Heller for Defiant By Nature, Archer Gray’s Anne Carey (20th Century Women), Annapurna’s Megan Ellison (Booksmart), Christina Oh (Minari), and Adam Paulsen (Pig), and Sue Naegle (Shirley), with Annapurna’s Sammy Scher and Defiant By Nature’s Havilah Brewster serving as exec producers. Searchlight Production Heads DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas will oversee the film along with SVP, Production Taylor Friedman, and Manager, Creative Affairs Cameron Chidsey.

According to Deadline, the film will stream on Disney’s DTC platforms as a Hulu Original in the U.S., with additional release plans to be announced at a later date. Production kicks off in Los Angeles in September.