‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Movie Gets May 2025 Theatrical Release from Shudder and RLJE

Published in 2020, author Adam Cesare gave rise to a new slasher villain in the horror novel Clown in a Cornfield, and the horror movie adaptation is on the way next year.

Deadline reports this morning that RLJE Films and Shudder have acquired the Clown in a Cornfield movie, with a wide theatrical released planned for May 9, 2025.

Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) directed the movie adaptation of the young adult slasher novel, which was published by HarperCollins in 2020 and spawned two sequels.

Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Carson MacCormac (Shazam!), Aaron Abrams (Hannibal), Will Sasso (The Three Stooges), and Kevin Durand (Abigail) star.

Deadline details, “Clown in a Cornfield follows Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her father (Aaron Abrams), who have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down.

“As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play.”

RLJE’s Chief Acquisition Officer Mark Ward said in a statement, “Adam Cesare’s ‘Clown’ series has been on my radar for some time now, and we are pumped to bring Eli Craig’s harrowing, savage, heart-pounding adaptation to the big screen in 2025.”

Eli Craig added, “I’m thrilled to partner with RLJE and Shudder to release this insanely fun, action, horror, comedy where we always wanted it to be seen — in theaters! As always in my movies, there’s a deeper theme about the collision of perspectives and ideals that leads to utter mayhem. It was fun in this one however, to let the horror thrills take the lead while the comedic absurdity that I can’t help but see in life, brings a bit of levity.”

Carter Blanchard and Eli Craig adapted the first novel in Adam Cesare’s trilogy. Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo was just released on August 20, 2024.

Clown in a Cornfield is produced by Temple Hill (Smile).