Lionsgate has picked up the US distribution rights to Barry Levinson’s latest film, The Bay, a found-footage horror directed by Barry Levinson and produced by Paranormal Activity and Insidious producers Jason Blum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli.
The Bay tells the story of a bacteriological outbreak in the Chesapeake Bay of an incurable disease that jumps from the fish population to the locals in a nearby town through video diaries and online postings.
Found-footage films are proving to the be a new gold mine among genre properties, as they frequently yield some high box office returns against a relatively small investment. Cloverfield grossed $170 million world wide, nearly seven times its $24 million budget.
Barry Levinson, with such films as Diner, Tin Men and Wag The Dog on his resume, is probably not the first director who springs to mind for a found-footage horror film. Unfortunately, his more recent films Man Of The Year and What Just Happened have not been as successful. Could tackling a project that is fairly out of his wheelhouse could be just the thing to recharge him creatively.
