Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, announced today that they have acquired worldwide rights to WRINKLES THE CLOWN, an unnerving new documentary that seeks to uncover the mystery behind chilling accounts of a nightmarish clown seen terrorizing disobedient children throughout Florida. Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Michael Beach Nichols (WELCOME TO LEITH) and financed and produced by Topic Studios, WRINKLES THE CLOWN will world-premiere at Fantastic Fest, followed by an October 4th theatrical release.
It started with a silent black and white surveillance video uploaded to YouTube that depicted a child sleeping peacefully. Until a disheveled old man disguised as a clown slid out from beneath her bed. Afterward, similar videos started appearing online, showing the clown pushing a cart in a parking lot. Waving alongside a busy highway. Holding balloons in front of a suburban home. The unsettling clips, which immediately went viral, launched Wrinkles The Clown to internet infamy. Soon, cryptic stickers with his eerie visage and a phone number were plastered on telephone poles and in bathrooms all over Florida promising to terrify misbehaving children. Over one million voicemails were left.
“Michael has concocted an incredibly unsettling film evocative of urban legend classics like SLENDER MAN and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “From Pennywise to the Joker, creepy clowns have terrified people for decades. WRINKLES THE CLOWN gives them a reason to fear.”
“Magnet understands that when your kid is acting up, there’s only one clown to call,” said Michael Beach Nichols. “I’m incredibly grateful to Topic Studios for helping produce this tantalizingly twisted film and to Magnet for their help in exposing this weird and wild story to the rest of the world.”
Directed and co-written by Michael Beach Nichols, WRINKLES THE CLOWN was co-written and edited by Christopher K. Walker. The film is produced by Jennie Bedusa, Jon Lullo, Brendan Walter, Lowell Shapiro, and Mike Dill. Executive producers are Michael Bloom, Ryan Heller, and Jihan Robinson for Topic Studios, and Abby Davis.
