Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon has shared the most disappointing of updates on his Arachnophobia reboot: it’s been officially scrapped.
While promoting his new thriller Drop, which sees The White Lotus star Meghann Fahy navigate a first date from hell, the filmmaker explained that if Atomic Monster and Amblin wind up moving forward with their planned new take on the ’90s horror comedy, it’ll be without him.
“I wrote a script that I loved. I actually think it was one of my best,” Landon told The Wrap. “But the problem with that is that you still have to deal with other people who have different opinions about what kind of movie we should be making. This was a classic case of creative differences and it was something that I was not willing to change.”
Going on to describe his exit as a “calm separation”, Landon recalled how “plot-driven” his script was and speculated whether it was its “much bigger set pieces” that put the production companies off. “It was definitely a more expensive movie,” he admitted. “That was another thing I think that made everybody a little bit nervous.”
Directed by Frank Marshall, Arachnophobia sees a poisonous spider hitch a ride to rural California inside the coffin of a nature photographer, who died during an assignment out in Venezuela. When the bodies start piling up stateside, new-in-town physician Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels), who just so happens to be deathly afraid of eight-legged fiends, is forced to face his fears as he teams up with exterminator Delbert McClintock (John Goodman) to fight the rapidly escalating infestation.
Drop releases in cinemas on April 11. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.
