Exquisite Corpses Heads to Blumhouse Atomic Under New Tiny Onion Deal
James Tynion IV and his production company Tiny Onion have signed a first-look deal with Blumhouse Atomic, the banner run by Jason Blum and James Wan. The first project under the agreement is a film adaptation of Exquisite Corpses, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A first-look deal gives a studio or production company the first chance to develop a creator's new projects. It does not commit anyone to make every idea. Here, the studio has already picked one.
Exquisite Corpses began as a comic book. Tynion wrote it with artist Michael Walsh, and it is published by Image Comics. The story centres on a serial killer battle royale: champions descend on a small town every five years, on Halloween, to compete. The comic has sold more than one million copies in its first eighteen months on sale, according to the trade report.
The adaptation is being developed for both film and animation. Blumhouse Atomic joined Tiny Onion and Lyrical Media on the project. Lyrical Media has also invested in Tiny Onion, which Tynion founded in 2024.
Tynion is already known to comic readers for The Department of Truth and The Deviant, both written by him. The Exquisite Corpses world is larger than one book. The comic has three spin-off series, each focused on one of the killers, and a second overarching mini-series is planned for next year.
Blumhouse Atomic and Tiny Onion were already working together on a film version of Something Is Killing the Children, another Tynion comic. Craig Zobel has boarded that project as director, meaning he has signed on to direct it. The new deal means the two companies now have two Tynion titles in development.
For Blumhouse Atomic, the deal adds a second comic-based property from Tynion. For Tiny Onion, it brings a Hollywood partner for a catalogue of stories that began on the page. No start date, cast or release window has been announced for either film.
Any comic adaptation takes years to reach a screen. Development, a script, financing and a distributor all have to line up first. For now, the news is simple: a creator, a studio and an investor have agreed to work together, starting with a town where killers meet every five years.
