Director David F. Sandberg and writer Eric Heisserer are both back for the new film, which will once again be produced by James Wan and Lawrence Grey. Sandberg created the original Lights Out short film along with wife/actress Lotta Losten in Sweden and when it went viral after playing a few festivals, it led to a flurry of attention and he was offered the chance to turn it into a full movie.
Lights Out stars Teresa Palmer as Rebecca, a young woman who has grown up dealing with her mother Sophie's (Maria Bello) struggles with mental health. She's largely stayed out of family matters but when her step-brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) starts seeing something in the darkness, Rebecca realises that her mother's condition might be tied to something else...
Even before Lights Out opened (it has made $35 million worldwide so far on the back of a $4.9 million budget), Sandberg was offered the director's chair on Annabelle 2 (Wan keeping it in the professional family there), so he'll complete that before he can even think about more of his own film's story. Lights Out will arrive in the UK on August 19. You can see the trailer below.