Blumhouse & Damon Lindelof’s The Hunt Gets 2019 Release Date

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Blumhouse Pictures and Damon Lindelof’s action thriller The Hunt has received a release date from Universal. Lindelof became one of the hottest names in Hollywood off his tenure as showrunner on the hit TV series Lost. Big time screenwriting gigs followed, including the task of penning Prometheus for director Ridley Scott. Lindelof also co-wrote the script for Star Trek Into Darkness, the less-than-beloved second entry in the Star Trek reboot series.

Despite his huge success, Lindelof often receives criticism for his “mystery-box” approach to writing, which tends to set up far more than it can ever pay off. Later seasons of Lost especially took a harsh beating for introducing storylines that built intrigue only to fizzle out without resolution. Lindelof seemed to refine this approach, adding a legitimately mystical element, for his acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers. For his next foray into feature films, an action-thriller called The Hunt, Lindelof will team with Blumhouse Pictures, the studio responsible for Get Out, Split and many other huge genre hits.

Plot details on The Hunt remain under wraps, but Universal Pictures is willing to announce they’ve set a release date for the upcoming film: Friday, September 27th, 2019. Lindelof co-wrote the script with Nick Cuse, his collaborator on both Lost and The Leftovers. Craig Zobel (Z for Zachariah) has signed on to direct.

Though few specifics are known about the film, previous reports state The Hunt will delve into the current American political climate for a “subversive” thriller that ramps up the conflict between right and left to an extreme and violent level. The extreme violence angle immediately puts one in mind of Blumhouse’s The Purge, the ongoing dystopian horror series built around the gimmick of legalized mayhem. The three low-budget Purge movies have all been big successes for Blumhouse and Universal. Later this year, the studios will release a prequel film, The First Purge. Syfy is also planning a Purge TV series that connects directly to the films.

It would certainly be interesting to see how audiences received a Purge-like take on today’s divisive political climate. Even without knowing much about plot specifics, it definitely sounds like The Hunt has massive controversy written all over it. Then again, given the speed at which the current situation continues to evolve, who knows if the film will still seem relevant when it finally hits theaters in the second half of 2019. For certain movie and TV fans, the relevant aspect is the mere involvement of Lindelof. Screenwriters tend to be anonymous for the most part, but Lindelof is one of the few who has achieved name brand status, and not always for positive reasons. In addition to The Hunt, Lindelof will also produce a new TV adaptation of the comic book Watchmen (speaking of things that are sure to be divisive).

KEY RELEASE DATES
The First Purge/The Purge 4 release date: Jul 4, 2018