Hammer Picks Up Rights to 'Woman in Black'

The story follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease growing when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed only in black. Receiving only silence from the locals, Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent.

Simon Oakes of Hammer Films and Richard Jackson of Talisman Films will produce the picture.   Nigel Sinclair and Guy East will serve as Executive Producers for Hammer. Roy Lee and Doug Davison’s Vertigo Entertainment (“The Grudge,” “The Ring”) are also attached, with Roy Lee serving as an Executive Producer.

Exclusive Film Distribution is handling worldwide sales and distribution, and will be representing the film at the forthcoming EFM in Berlin.

Hill’s novel has become a modern classic, appearing on the national curriculum in the UK. “The Woman in Black” was adapted into a stage play by Stephen Mallatratt, first performed at the Theatre-By-The-Sea in Scarborough, UK in 1987. It moved to the Fortune Theatre in London’s West End in 1989, where it still successfully runs today, over twenty years later, and has been performed the world over.  

“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to work with Jane Goldman, and with Talisman and Hammer, to turn Susan Hill's spine-chilling ghost story into a film that scares people stiff and moves them to tears,” said Watkins.  

Commented Oakes, “’The Woman in Black’ is an iconic British horror story, and so makes a perfect match for Hammer. Jane Goldman has written a terrific screenplay and with James Watkins at the helm, we feel that this feature adaptation of Susan Hill’s classic novel will be both dynamic and terrifying.”