Since the release of Paranormal Activity in 2009, Blumhouse has been a leading name in horror movies. The studio has specialized in producing cost-effective horror titles that turn a profit. Blumhouse has launched successful horror franchises, including Insidious and The Purge, remade classic horror films such as The Invisible Man and Wolf Man, and distributed original titles like the recent blockbuster hit Obsession.
On Oct. 9, 2026, the same day Blumhouse’s Other Mommy opened in theaters, it was confirmed that the movie’s director, Rob Savage, would helm a new horror film titled Molepeople. LaKeith Stanfield (I Love Boosters) would star in Molepeople alongside Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Despite Other Mommy taking the number one spot at the box office with $27.8 million in its opening weekend, critics panned it, and it currently has a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Variety reports that director Rob Savage and star Lakeith Stanfield have left Blumhouse Pictures and Atomic Monster’s Molepeople. Savage reportedly dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, but no one has said why Stanfield left the project. Deadline reports the split was amicable and that Ben Mendelsohn is still attached to star in the project.
Director Ben Wheatley has now been hired as the new director for Molepeople. Wheatley made his directorial debut with the 2009 crime film Down Terrace. The director’s credits include action crime thrillers like Free Fire, a monster movie such as The Meg 2: The Trench, and recently the Bob Odenkirk action film Normal.
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Bob Odenkirk as Sheriff Ulysses in Normal Magnolia Pictures -
Studio Canal
Although Molepeople shares a similar name with the 1956 Universal Pictures film The Mole People, it does not appear to be a remake. Molepeople was an original pitch developed in 2024 by Nathan Elston, co-writer of Other Mommy. Molepeople‘s story follows a man who descends into the abandoned tunnels beneath New York City and discovers a “twisted society lurking beneath the streets.”
Molepeople is one of the first titles for Paramount Pictures’ new horror-focused label, Paramount Primal, which launched in June 2026. Blumhouse, Atomic Monster and Paramount Primal will produce Molepeople, with Paramount Pictures distributing. Molepeople is still expected to begin filming in late November 2026 and is set for release on Aug. 27, 2027.
It’s unclear what other project Rob Savage is attached to that led him to drop out of Molepeople. As for Stanfield, the actor will next appear in Taylor Sheridan’s action thriller F.A.S.T., set for release on May 14, 2027. His other upcoming credits include a voice role in the animated film Slime, playing Edmund in a new take on King Lear titled Lear Rex, and the biographical legal drama Monsanto.
- Release Date
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December 1, 1956
- Runtime
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77
- Director
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Virgil W. Vogel
- Writers
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László Görög
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
