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EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Studios is in development on The First Omen, a prequel to the original 1976 Fox movie The Omen, with Legion and Briarpatch episodic director Arkasha Stevenson making her feature directorial debut.

Stevenson will also handle the rewrite, alongside writing partner Tim Smith. Smith is set to executive produce with Phantom Four producing.

David S. Goyer and Keith Levine are producing for Phantom Four, with Gracie Wheelan overseeing for the production label.

The original 1976 movie, a hit in its day which grossed over $60 million at the domestic box office (unadjusted for inflation) and starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Stephens, follows an American ambassador who believes his 5-year-old son is the Antichrist.

The pic spawned two sequels, 1978’s Damien: Omen II ($26.5M domestic B.O.) and 1981’s The Final Conflict ($20.5M) as well as 2006 reboot that grossed $120M worldwide and starred Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and David Thewlis. There have been other follow-ups on the small screen.

Stevenson and Smith first worked together on the short film Pineapple, which debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, which Stevenson directed and Smith produced. They later sold the concept as a TV series to AMC, which they both wrote the pilot for. They are currently also working on Beautiful Monsters, an original project set up at Amazon; and both co-executive produced Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block for Syfy, on which Stevenson directed every episode.

They continued their collaboration with Nick Antosca on Brand New Cherry Flavor at Netflix, with Stevenson directing the pilot and Smith a co-producer. Stevenson has also directed episodes of FX’s Legion and USA’s Briarpatch. Prior to entertainment, Stevenson was a photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times, while Smith worked on Duck Butter and Searching as a production supervisor.

Stevenson and Smith are repped by Verve and attorney Melissa Rogal.

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Create something to fear. Watch the new trailer for The First Omen, only in theaters April 5.

When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate. “The First Omen” stars Nell Tiger Free (“Servant”), Tawkeef Barhom (“Mary Magdalene”), Sonia Braga (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Ralph Ineson (“The Northman”), and Bill Nighy (“Living”). The film is directed by Arkasha Stevenson (“Legion”), based on characters created by David Seltzer (“The Omen”), with a story by Ben Jacoby (“Bleed”) and a screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas (“Firestarter”). The producers are David S. Goyer (“Hellraiser”) and Keith Levine (“The Night House”) and the executive producers are Tim Smith, Whitney Brown (“Rosaline”), and Gracie Wheelan.

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