New Line Cinema Wins Remake Rights to Italian Horror Film The Spiral
New Line Cinema has won a competitive bid for the remake rights to The Spiral, a psychological horror film from Italy, Deadline reported on 12 November 2026. Remake rights let a studio make its own new version of an existing film.
The deal gives New Line the right to develop a feature-length film in English based on the original. New Line has also picked up distribution rights to the Italian-language The Spiral in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. A distributor is the company that puts a film into cinemas in a given territory. Deadline says New Line will give the Italian-language version a limited theatrical release before the end of the year, in time for awards season.
The film was written and directed by Paolo Strippoli, and it is his fourth feature after The Holy Boy, Flowing and A Classic Horror Story. Jasmine Trinca plays a mother drawn into a Faustian pact, which is a deal with the devil, by a figure called the Stranger. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi plays the Stranger. Romana Maggiora Vergano and Adriano Giannini also appear.
The film opened in Italian cinemas on October 4. Deadline puts its Italian box office at around $4 million, using US dollars. Box office means the total ticket money a film takes in.
Its festival run was busy. The Spiral premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Young Cinema Award for Best Italian Film and the Green Drop Award. At the Toronto International Film Festival, it screened in the Midnight Madness programme for its North American premiere and was first runner-up for the People's Choice Midnight Madness Award. At the Sitges festival in Spain, Trinca won Best Actress, and the film received the Silver Méliès for Best Film.
Italy has also put the film forward as its entry for the International Feature category at this year's Oscars, the award for films in languages other than English.
The production was led by Marina Marzotto and Mattia Oddone for Rome-based Propaganda, in collaboration with Rai Cinema, the film arm of Italian broadcaster Rai. Kazak Productions in France, Tarantula in Belgium and Dinamo Film in Italy came on as co-producers. Le Pacte, a sales company that sells films to buyers in other countries, brokered the New Line deal. It also handles the film's international sales and its French distribution.
For a film that began as a small Italian horror title, the path from Venice to a Hollywood studio's slate has been fast. Remake deals usually follow a film's time on the festival circuit, when buyers get a look at it in front of audiences.
