DreamWorks and Frank Marshall are developing horror-thriller “Cropsey” through his Kennedy/Marshall Co., Variety has learned exclusively.
The studio is in negotiations to acquire a pitch from Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, who will also write the screenplay. Jake Steinfeld is the executive producer.
“Cropsey” will center on a group of adolescents at a summer camp haunted by an urban legend that dates back to the Colonial period. DreamWorks is developing the story as an Amblin-esque project mixing horror and humor — a la “Gremlins” and “The Goonies.”
The DreamWorks project is unrelated to the 2009 documentary “Cropsey,” written and directed by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio about a convicted child kidnapper.
Naing and Goldberg are veterans of the genre, having teamed on the supernatural thriller “Autopsy of Jane Doe,” starring Emile Hirsch, and Paramount’s “Friday the 13th” reboot. They also sold a feature adaptation about author H.P. Lovecraft, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” to Amazon Film.
Marshall, who has a first-look deal at DreamWorks, has been a producer on the “Jurassic Park,” “Indiana Jones,” “Bourne” and “Back to the Future” franchises.
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Naing is repped by APA and Circle of Confusion. Goldberg is repped by WME and New Wave Entertainment. Both are also repped by Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein and Lezcano.
