Neon has acquired the rights to “Shelby Oaks,” a found-footage horror film (think: “The Blair Witch Project”) that is the feature directorial debut of YouTuber Chris Stuckmann.
Stuckmann is known for his movie review YouTube channel that has more than 2 million subscribers, but his debut feature was born with a Kickstarter in 2022. Stuckmann raised $1.39 million in less than a month, the most-funded horror film ever on Kickstarter.
“Shelby Oaks” follows Mia as she frantically searches for her sister Riley, who ominously disappeared in the last tape of her investigative series, “Paranormal Paranoids.” The characters are YouTubers themselves in the mid-aughts who in the course of their investigation discover that there’s a paranormal force that dates back to their childhood.
Neon picked up the worldwide rights to “Shelby Oaks” ahead of its world premiere at the Fantasia Festival this Saturday. Stuckmann has been heavily touting the film on his YouTube channel, offering pre-order merchandise and resources on the behind-the-scenes filmmaking process as a teaching tool for other aspiring, first-time filmmakers. The distributor is planning a theatrical release for the U.S. and will handle international sales for the film.
You can check out a trailer to his Kickstarter campaign below and the website for the film here.
“Shelby Oaks” stars Camille Sullivan, Brendan Sexton III, and Sarah Durn. Stuckmann also produced the feature alongside Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead, and Cameron Burns for Paper Street Pictures.
The film also boasts Mike Flanagan as an executive producer, as well as Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka for Intrepid Pictures, Adam F. Goldberg, Paul Holbrook, Sean E. DeMott, and Tony Killough.
Neon’s rival A24 had a hit on its hands with last year’s “Talk to Me,” also from some YouTube content creators. “Talk to Me” is already getting a sequel and has led to A24 teaming up with its filmmakers on other projects as well.
The deal for “Shelby Oaks” was negotiated by Neon’s VP of Acquisitions & Production Jason Wald with Paper Street Pictures’ CEO Aaron B. Koontz on behalf of the filmmakers.
Neon just released Osgood Perkins’ horror film “Longlegs,” earning $22 million at the box office in its opening weekend, making it already one of Neon’s highest-grossing movies ever. The indie studio also just released the trailer for “Anora” from director Sean Baker, the film that extended Neon’s streak of Palme d’Or winners at Cannes to five years in a row.
Neon also recently acquired rights to Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Perkins’ next projects “The Monkey” and “Keeper,” and North American rights to the packages for Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha” and Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown.”
