As horror fans look forward to Final Destination: Bloodlines, New Line Cinema president and CCO Richard Brener discussed the history and future of the alternative filmmaking arm of Warner Bros. with the Hollywood Reporter.
Especially in the ’90’s and 2000s, the company spun out into not only franchise makers but arthouse staples built on storytelling that have resonated over time. You could say that it was the blueprint for A24 or Neon with properties that originated with horror, cult, and auteur fare including Nightmare on Elm Street, The Mask, Austin Powers, Mortal Kombat, Seven, Lord of the Rings, Elf, The Conjuring, and so many more.
Now in its current era New Line’s focus is squarely on horror, but to Brener that’s due to the climate of cinematic demand in the genre most easy to make. “It’s not been a huge change in the sense that we’ve kind of been making the same kinds of movies, whether it’s horror, comedy, female-driven films,” he told THR. “The budgets haven’t changed, the expectations don’t change and the pressure doesn’t change. There’s an ebb and flow in the sense that we probably are making less comedies today and more horror movies, because horror movies have been working more and there are people who are nervous about comedies, I think unjustifiably.”
Even so, the pressure to find a balance between doling out more franchise fodder—something audiences claim to be tired of, but yet still show up for—and original fare, which can have trouble filling theater seats, is something New Line is trying to navigate. Take Companion, for instance: the film was received well by audiences and critics alike but didn’t do so well during its box office run.
To that end Brener shared, “I think it’s very rare to find a movie that scores as well with the audience and critics. There may be some things in the concept that were hard to get through in short form in marketing, but we’re super proud of the movie and would love to work with [writer-director] Drew [Hancock] again. He’s an amazing talent. The movie will be profitable for us.”
And it’s often the case that a solid horror film does tend to find its audience over time. That’s something that New Line is familiar with thanks to past films that went from cult faves to horror or genre mainstays like Dark City, Spawn, or Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
New Line’s current horror master in residence is James Wan, who is closing out his era of Conjuring movies by producing the ninth film in the universe, The Conjuring: Last Rites. The film from Michael Chaves, which will see Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren, is set to be a wrap up of sorts. And it sounds like the studio’s hoping for a blockbuster farewell, as Brener teases early versions of the film are already “testing through the roof.”
He also classified Last Rites as the “last of what we call phase one,” and noted “we are hopeful that we can make more.” It will be interesting to see if that means the second phase will reboot the universe or be anchored by new leads outside of the Warrens.
Brener continued to describe the focus on franchise titans of terror. “We’re also making our second Evil Dead movie with plans for a third as well. But there’s also new fresh ones that you haven’t heard of that we believe, in success, we’ll have multiple installments,” he said, adding that while fans want more Nightmare on Elm Street, perhaps the film that laid the company’s solid foundation, it’s a bit trickier to pin down: “We hope so. It’s complicated because of the rights.”
Head to THR to read the full interview with Brener.
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