Temple Hill Entertainment, the prolific production outfit behind the global blockbusters Smile and Smile 2, and leading sales, finance and production company Protagonist Pictures have re-teamed on The Rule of Three, the first installment in a new horror trilogy adapted from bestselling thriller author Sam Ripley’s novel of the same name. The announcement came today from Protagonist Pictures’ CEO, Dave Bishop.
Protagonist Pictures is launching sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Market.
The film stars Thomasin McKenzie (JoJo Rabbit, Last Night in SoHo) and Katie Douglas (Clown in a Cornfield, Netflix’s “Ginny & Georgia”). James Roday Rodriguez (Gravy) directs, adapted from a screenplay by Todd Harthan (Hulu’’s “High Potential”) and Rodriguez.
Beware, Beware, The Rule of Three, It’s coming for you, like it came for me… Are Amy (Douglas) and her family plagued by a deadly curse? Every three years, death strikes under mysterious circumstances, horrifically killing family members. It’s almost three years to the day since Amy’s parents’ death, and Amy realises the curse must strike her next. With the help of her best friend Lizzy (McKenzie), the two friends try to cheat Amy’s death and find a way to reverse the curse. But is Amy’s fate already sealed? Bad things always happen in threes, so they say…
Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce for Temple Hill, with Hal Sadoff and George Berman executive producing. Dave Bishop, James Pugh and George Hamilton serve as executive producers for Protagonist, in collaboration with Rodriguez and Harthan’s new shingle, Taft Tennis.
“The Rule of Three is the kind of gripping horror that gets under your skin and stays there,” said Bishop. “It’s a bold, elevated horror with an unsettling psychological edge that taps into something universal – and terrifying…a truly wild ride. With Temple Hill’s expertise in the genre paired with a chillingly sharp concept, this is a must see for horror fans and audiences worldwide.”
Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen said, “We were immediately hooked by James’ vision for a fresh and terrifying curse movie revolving around the notorious lore behind the number 3. Centred on a ride-or-die friendship between two young women, set against the nostalgic backdrop of the 90’s, and underpinned by James’ trademark wit, we know that audiences will find The Rule of Three scary and hilarious in equal measure. And with this being the first in the franchise, there are many jaw-dropping twists and turns to come.”
“This is any director’s dream — supportive and mustached producers, an incredible cast and material that defies the ways we try to define ‘genre’ filmmaking. Come for the terror, stay for the storytelling,” said Rodriguez.
The Rule of Three marks Temple Hill and Protagonist Pictures’ fourth collaboration, which began with Clown in a Cornfield, scheduled for a wide U.S. theatrical release on May 9. The companies also joined forces on the high-concept horror Monitor, currently in production, and Simon Curtis’ Encore.
Founded by Godfrey and Bowen in 2006, Temple Hill Entertainment is the hard-working banner behind a number of blockbuster film franchises, including the 2022 successful sleeper hit, Smile, followed by the box office chart-topper, Smile 2, both released by Paramount Pictures. Their book-to-film adaptations, The Twilight Saga and The Maze Runner trilogy, have grossed over $5.3B and $949M worldwide respectively. Additional films include John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort; Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon, starring Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel; the critically acclaimed and NAACP Image Award-winner, The Hate U Give; and Fatherhood, starring Kevin Hart and Alfre Woodward.
Among multi-hyphenate James Roday Rodriguez’s many acting credits are the ABC hit series “A Million Little Things,” and the USA classic series “Psych.” Rodriguez recently directed multiple episodes of the ABC hit series “High Potential,” as well as directing his Rodriguez/Harthan script “Treehouse” as part of the Blumhouse anthology series “Into the Dark” for Hulu. His feature film directing debut Gravy, starring Jimmi Simpson and Michael Weston, is now a cult classic horror-comedy film seen around the world.
Todd Harthan is a creator and showrunner currently under an overall deal with 20th Television. Harthan is currently the showrunner for ABC’s crime drama series “High Potential.” Previously, he was an executive producer on the ABC series “The Company You Keep,” starring Milo Ventimiglia, Before that, he was showrunner on the first 3 seasons of “The Resident” on Fox, and created the Fox hit series “Rosewood.”
Thomasin McKenzie drew international acclaim in Debra Granik’s adventure drama Leave No Trace, opposite Ben Foster. A string of projects followed, including Justin Kelly’s The True History of The Kelly Gang, David Michôd’s The King, portraying the influential Philippa of England, and Graysorn Thavat’s The Justice of Bunny King. Her first professional screen role was in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 2013, followed by the prescient lead in Consent: The Louise Nicholson Story. She memorably played Elsa Korr in Taika Waititi’s Oscar winner Jojo Rabbit, and Lola in Jane Campion’s, Power of The Dog. Upcoming projects include Bleecker Street’s comedy Fackham Hall from comedian Jimmy Carr, and Anna Lee from Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet, writers and director of the Oscar winner, The Brutalist.
Katie Douglas is best known for Netflix’s popular TV series “Ginny & Georgia,” She will next lead the cult-favorite horror feature Clown in a Cornfield, which made its debut at SXSW 2025 and will release in theaters in the US on May 9, 2025. An award-winning actress and Canadian-born rising star, Katie’s previous credits include Lifetime’s “The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story” (which earned her a Canadian Screen Actor Award), Lifetime’s “Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey” (Canadian Screen Actor Award & ACTRA Award nomination), Vertical Entertainment’s Lazareth, and Vertical’s The Walk.
McKenzie is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment, Gail Cowan Management and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; and Douglas is repped by Play Management, imPRint, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean.
Roday Rodriguez is repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment and Peikoff Mahan Law Office; Harthan is repped by UTA, Circle Management+Production, and Barnes, Morris, Yorn & Levine. Sam Ripley is repped by CAA on behalf of James Wills at Watson, Little.
ABOUT TEMPLE HILL ENTERTAINMENT
Temple Hill Entertainment was founded in 2006 by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Together they’ve produced a number of successful film franchises, notably The Twilight Saga, The Maze Runner trilogy, and the Smile series along with The Fault in Our Stars, Fatherhood, The Hate U Give, Love, Simon, First Man and Happiest Season. On TV, they have success with the hit ABC series, Revenge and FX’s Dave. Today, Bowen and Godfrey are joined by President of Film Isaac Klausner, SVP of Development John Fischer, and EVP of Development Laura Quicksilver as a collective of producers, consistently releasing multiple feature films each year, with offices in Los Angeles and London and a thriving publishing division. Temple Hill’s next release CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim and releases wide on May 9th. Other features upcoming include MY OXFORD YEAR for Netflix, THE MAP THAT LEADS TO YOU for Amazon, and PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, the adaptation of Emily Henry’s bestselling novel, also for Netflix. Temple Hill is currently in production on three feature films, MONITOR, a horror based on Matt Black & Ryan Polly’s terrifying short of the name, CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, based on the internationally bestselling book series and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Blacklist standout HEART OF THE BEAST, starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Ayer.
ABOUT PROTAGONIST PICTURES
Led by Dave Bishop alongside George Hamilton and James Pugh, Protagonist Pictures is a sales, finance, and production company with a proven track record in outstanding films and commercial successes. Based in the UK, the company handles films from around the world, always maintaining a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and storytelling skills. Protagonist Pictures has championed groundbreaking filmmakers since its inception, including Brady Corbet, Chloe Zhao, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sean Baker, Rose Glass, Taiki Waititi and Pawel Pawlikowski.
Protagonist handled international sales and sold to Focus Features on Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, which premiered in Venice to stellar reviews and garnered 3 Academy Awards including Best performance by an actor in a leading role, Best achievement in cinematography and Best achievement in music written for motion pictures, and 3 Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama, and Best Director. The film also got 9 BAFTA nominations and won Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
The company also handled sales and executive produced Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, starring 4x Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, which premiered in Sundance and Berlin to critical acclaim, and was nominated for 2 BAFTA awards including Outstanding British Film and Leading Actress.
Protagonist Pictures’ current slate also features the psychological horror The Night House, adapted from Jo Nesbø’s best-selling horror novel, directed by Jesper Ganslandt and starring Jacob Tremblay and Aaron Paul; Mark Jenkin’s mystery drama Rose of Nevada, starring George MacKay and Callum Turner; the survival thriller Die By Night, directed by Rod Blackhurst and starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Ben Hardy and Scoot McNairy; Sophie Hyde’s multi-generational LGBTQ+ family feature, Jimpa starring Olivia Colman, John Lithgow and newcomer Aud Mason Hyde; the neo-noir thriller Islands, directed by Jan-Ole Gerster in his English language debut, and starring Sam Riley and Stacy Martin; Monitor, the high-concept horror directed by Ryan Polly and Matt Black and produced by Temple Hill, the team behind the megahit Smile Franchise; Brian Cox’s Scottish family comedy Glenrothan, starring Cox in his directorial debut, alongside Alan Cumming; the delightful adaptation of the best-selling book Flavia, starring Martin Freeman, Toby Jones, Jonathan Pryce and newcomer Molly Belle Wright. Protagonist also handled international sales on Eli Craig’s highly anticipated horror adaptation Clown in a Cornfield, also from Temple Hill and set for a wide theatrical release by RLJE Films and Shudder in May 2025.
PR via Maxine Leonard PR