Tron: Ares Director Joachim Rønning Sets Horror Film 'System'

Joachim Rønning is going from the grid to the shadows. The Norwegian filmmaker behind Tron: Ares has set his next project, the horror film System, with Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios. The film is already in production in London.

Plot details are under wraps, and unusually, so is the cast. Rønning is directing from a script he co-wrote with his brother Andreas Rønning, and producing through his banner The Saga Company. Spooky Pictures' Roy Lee (Weapons, It) and Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Insidious) are producing, with UTA Independent Film Group arranging the financing and handling sales.

Rønning broke out with the Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki and has since directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Young Woman and the Sea, all for Disney. A horror pivot from a director with that resume is exactly the kind of swing that keeps a career interesting.

Key facts:
- Joachim Rønning (Tron: Ares) to direct horror film System
- Set up with Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios
- Currently in production in London; plot and cast undisclosed
- Producers include Roy Lee and Steven Schneider; UTA Independent Film Group arranged financing

Why this matters: Horror is the genre where actors get discovered and directors get dangerous. Rønning spent a decade inside the Disney machine making some of the biggest spectacles on earth, and now he's making a horror film with the Paranormal Activity and Weapons guys. That tells you where the heat is. For actors, a secret-cast horror shoot in London is exactly the kind of project that mints new scream queens and final boys overnight.