WWE Studios and Lionsgate Announce 'See No Evil 2'

Industry website Variety reports that WWE Studios and Lionsgate are set to collaborate on See No Evil 2, a follow up to the 2006 slasher thriller which starred Glenn "Kane" Jacobs.

Variety writes:

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Production on “See No Evil 2″ will start in the fall, with identical twin helmers The Soska Sisters Jen and Sylvia (“American Mary”) set to direct. They are also among the directors that will contribute to the anthology series “ABCs of Death 2.”

Kane will return as the reclusive madman Jacob Goodnight, who rises from the dead in the city morgue after his killing spree at the Blackwell hotel and goes after a group of medical students who fight to survive. Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby are co-writing the script.

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Interestingly, Brookes and Darby previously inked a deal with WWE in January 2012 to write Bermuda, a found-footage horror film about a documentary crew who set out to explore the infamous Bermuda Triangle (which actually sounds like a pretty decent idea).

That the company has assigned the duo to other projects may indicate that film isn't happening or that it is still stuck in production hell.

See No Evil 2 will presumably be the second movie of the two-film WWE/Lionsgate deal announced in March of last year. Leprechaun: Origins, which just finished filming per lead star Hornswoggle's twitter, marked the first.  

It remains to be seen whether there is truly a high demand for a sequel to See No Evil, but WWE and Lionsgate may feel they can't go wrong with another low-budget slasher flick. (Generally, thanks to rentals and distribution deals with companies like Netflix, these B movies are quite easy to make money on, hence why so many get made.)

Aside from the disappointing performance of Dead Man Down earlier this year, 2013 has been a good year for WWE. The Call was a huge hit managing to rake in over $50 million domestically in its theater run. It has also performed exceptionally in home media too.

Straight-to-DVD flick The Marine 3: Homefront did extremely well in sales when it was released in March, shifting 153,000 copies in its first month. June's 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded has also sold respectably, with The Numbers revealing that the movie shifted 42,000 copies in its first two weeks. (As WrestlingInc notes, both films cost less than $1.5 million to make.)

WWE also has two animation films with Warner Bros. currently in production.   

In a move that was seen by PWTorch as a sign of Vince McMahon's commitment to his movie division, the company recently signed a new profits-based contract with WWE Studios' head Michael Luisi.

WWE is correct to invest further in Luisi. The former Miramax executive has managed to turn around a struggling joke of a movie division and make it into a money-making endeavor with real potential.