EXCLUSIVE: New Line Cinema has won a competitive bid for the remake rights to Paolo Strippoli’s psychological horror thriller The Spiral, which is Italy’s Oscar entry for International Film this year.
Written and directed by Strippoli, The Spiral stars Jasmine Trinca as a mother whose family life is thrown into turmoil when a mysterious woman, known as the Stranger, played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, draws her into a Faustian pact. The cast also includes Romana Maggiora Vergano and Adriano Giannini. The pic hit theaters in Italy on Oct. 4 and has grossed around $4M.
New Line’s deal for The Sprial includes rights to develop a feature-length English-language motion picture based on the original. As part of the deal, the now Paramount owned label also acquired distribution rights to the Italian film in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. New Line will give the Italian-language The Sprial a limited theatrical release before the end of the year in time for Oscar season.
The acquisition follows The Spiral‘s world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Young Cinema Award for Best Italian Film and the Green Drop Award, and its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness Programme, where it was first runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The film has since screened at Fantastic Fest and Sitges, where Trinca won Best Actress and the film received the Silver Méliès for Best Film. Further selections include the Busan, Chicago and Thessaloniki international film festivals.
The film reps Strippoli’s fourth feature following The Holy Boy (2025), Flowing (2022) and A Classic Horror Story (2021). The Spiral is produced by Marina Marzotto and Mattia Oddone for Rome-based Propaganda in collaboration with Rai Cinema, The pic was also co-produced by Kazak Productions in France, Tarantula in Belgium and Dinamo Film in Italy.
Le Pacte brokered the deal and handles international sales and French distribution.