The Momo challenge is becoming a movie and its origin is super creepy
The 2018 Internet sensation known as the Momo Challenge is getting the Hollywood treatment because... of course it is.
Deadline broke the news that Orion Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment are partnering with producer Taka Ichise to develop the viral Internet hoax into a feature horror film.
Perhaps one of the more disturbing features from last year, the creepy visage rose to fame as the inspiration behind a hoax called Momo's Challenge.
According to Internet pranksters, the mysterious Momo was using WhatsApp to encourage children to acts of violence and self-harm (none of which was true, by the way). The fake dare might have gone unnoticed by the masses if it weren't for Kim Kardashian and the media as a whole.
The reality TV star posted on her Instagram page about the hoax, warning parents that the bird-like woman's face was hiding in unassuming kids' YouTube content, urging them to hurt others and themselves.
Of course, this was false but the Internet hype machine had gone into overdrive and the hoax turned into an urban legend, creating real panic in children and parents alike.
We want to clear something up regarding the Momo Challenge: We’ve seen no recent evidence of videos promoting the Momo Challenge on YouTube. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges are against our policies.
— YouTube (@YouTube) February 27, 2019
Momo is actually a sculpture by Keisuke Aiso and was a part of a 2016 Tokyo exhibition. Called 'Mother Bird', it is inspired by the Japanese legend Ubume, a child-snatching bird spirit from folklore.
The sculpture received little attention in Japan at the time and was wrapped and stored outside Aiso's studio. According to the The Japan Times, after a neighbour spotted it and was terrified, Aiso sent it to the dump.
Soon after he began receiving hate mail, unaware the sculpture had created a viral Internet hoax in the west. Aiso said he would not want to monetise something which has spread such fear in children.
Hollywood, apparently, doesn't mind.
Roy Lee of Vertigo and Ichise have worked on horror together before on both The Ring and The Grudge. Vertigo also produced horror hits It and It Chapter 2.
The Momo Challenge is also the inspiration behind the film Getaway, but Getaway will focus on the Internet-hoax aspect.
Deadline described Getaway as following a group of teenagers who hear the story of the urban legend Momo, a strange spirit of a bird-like woman that taunts its victims with violent commands via text message and phone calls. What starts out as a harmless prank soon turns more sinister over the next 24 hours as the teens start disappearing without any motive or pattern.
Other movies based on internet legends include Slender Man and Terror in the Woods, both based on the very real Slender Man case.
Whether the upcoming Momo movie explores the Japanese legend of a kidnapping bird-woman spirit or sticks to the Internet hoax remains to be seen, but the former sounds far more terrifying.
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