Campos In Talks to Direct “The Omen” Prequel

It may turn out to be a scary First for Antonio Campos

The half-Brazilian American filmmaker is in talks to direct the supernatural horror thriller The First Omen for 20th Century Fox.

Antonio Campos

It’s a prequel to The Omen, which is being planned for release some forty years after the original was first released.

Campos most recently directed the Sundance Film Festival movie Christine.

The original movie starred the great Gregory Peck as an ambassador who comes to believe that his 5-year-old son may be the living embodiment of the Antichrist.

The movie, directed by Richard Donner, was one of the biggest hits of the year and considered one of the scariest movies of the decade. It introduced Damien, the name of the son, into the pop culture lexicon, and preyed on fears of baby swapping and evil nannies.

Omen spawned two sequels and a series of novels. Fox remade the movie once before, in a 2006 iteration directed by John Moore and starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles.

Fox is currently airing a TV version of The Omen titled Damien, helmed by The Walking Dead‘s Glen Mazzara.

Ben Jacoby wrote the script for the prequel.

Campos is a player in the indie sphere and was a producer on movies such as Martha Marcy May Marlene. He previously directed 2012’s Simon Killer. His drama Christine starred Rebecca Hall and Michael C. Hall and premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where distribution outfit The Orchard snapped up domestic rights.

Rodriguez to Direct Warner Bros. Live Action Adaptation of Hanna-Barbera’s “Jonny Quest”

Robert Rodriguez has a new quest

The 46-year-old Mexican American filmmaker is set to direct Warner Bros. Jonny Quest, film adaptation of the Hanna-Barbera boy hero.

Robert Rodriguez

The studio is hoping to create a live-action family adventure franchise.

Rodriguez and Terry Rossio are rewriting a Dan Mazeau draft that made the Black List.

Jonny is the kid who accompanied his scientist father, their bodyguard Race Bannon and Jonny’s pal Hadji on a series of global adventures that always involved some evil conspiracy that forced Jonny to work his way out of danger. Created and designed by Doug WildeyJonny Quest was wildly popular when first introduced. The series ran for a season on ABC primetime in 1964 and lives forever in reruns, an updated animated series, and in comic book and merchandising incarnations.

Warner Bros, which got the Hanna-Barbera catalog in the Turner acquisition, has tried numerous times to get this right. Richard Donner took a shot at it; Peter Segal did too. A version had Zac Efron poised to play the title character and Dwayne Johnson to play Bannon.

Rodriguez previous has success with the kid empowerment theme with his own popular Spy Kids films.