Searchlight Pictures announced on Friday that its darkly comedic horror film Nightbitch, starring six-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams (Arrival), has been slated for release in theaters on December 6.
An adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed debut novel, from writer-director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Nightbitch tells the story of a woman thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler in the suburbs, who slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a canine.
Marking a reemergence of Megan Ellison’s reconfigured Annapurna in the marketplace, the project came together when Bond Group and Annapurna acquired film rights to Yoder’s book and developed the script alongside Heller. In May 2022, Searchlight acquired worldwide rights to the project, in a deal valued at over $25M.
Adams and Stacy O’Neil (Dead Ringers) produced via their Bond Group banner, alongside Heller for Defiant By Nature, Archer Gray’s Anne Carey (20th Century Women), Christina Oh (Minari) and Sue Naegle (Shirley), with Annapurna’s Sammy Scher and Defiant By Nature’s Havilah Brewster serving as executive producers.
Most recently setting an October 18 launch for Jesse Eisenberg’s acclaimed sophomore feature A Real Pain, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Searchlight is coming off the release of its awards season titles Poor Things and All of Us Strangers. Next set to release romantic fantasy The Greatest Hits on April 5, it also has Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film Kinds of Kindness, reteaming him with Poor Things Oscar winner Emma Stone, coming up for release on June 21.