Platinum Dunes Developing Thriller ‘Lure’ At Universal With ‘Gangs Of London’s Corin Hardy Directing

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures and Platinum Dunes producers Michael Bay and Brad Fuller continue to stay busy on the banner’s new overall deal, as sources tell Deadline that Universal will develop Lure, which Platinum Dunes is producing. Corin Hardy has signed on to direct the project currently being written by Chris Bernier.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the story is based on the haunting of the real-life King’s Tavern, considered to be the most haunted building in all of Mississippi, with one of its tenants being the murdered mistress of one of the tavern’s original owners.

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Universal Pictures EVP Production Development Matt Reilly will oversee the project for the studio. Cameron Fuller will executive produce and oversee the project for Platinum Dunes.

Hardy has a reputation for having developed a dark and distinctive visual flair for creating monsters, animations and Super-8 horror films in his work-shed before gaining industry experience in art, costume, prop and special effects departments for film and theatre. He studied theatre design at Wimbledon School of Art before spending five years making his award-winning stop-motion pic Butterfly, which premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival to critical acclaim.

With a keen interest in music, he also directed cinematic promos for The Prodigy, Biffy Clyro, Keane, The Horrors, Paolo Nutini and Ed Sheeran among others.

In 2015, Hardy’s debut feature The Hallow launched at Sundance to international acclaim, taking home numerous awards including Best Horror Film at the Empire Film Awards; Best Feature at Fantastic Fest, Strasbourg; and taking home five awards at the LA Scream Fest including Best Director. Shortly after its release, Hardy was nominated as Best Debut Director at BIFA.

Hardy’s second feature The Nun for New Line and Warner Bros was released in 2018 and went on to become the highest-grossing film of The Conjuring franchise and 11th highest-grossing horror movie of all time. It cumed at $365.6 million at the worldwide box office.

Hardy has gone on to direct numerous episodes of Sky/AMC+’s action crime saga Gangs of London and became the lead director and an executive producer on the series, having directed half of the episodes in Season 1 and Season 2. He is represented by WME, Independent Talent Group in the UK, Range Media Partners and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan LLP.

Bernier is an established genre screenwriter and filmmaker. He followed up his work as a writer on 2022’s Halloween Ends with a number of projects around town including The Jungle at Hidden Pictures, Two Towns at ITV, The Count of Monte Cristo at Universal with Mandeville Films, and Hell Cave at Realm Studios. He is represented by UTA, Silver Lake Entertainment and The Nord Group.

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