‘Fear Street:’ How Netflix’s Horror Trilogy Survived the Disney-Fox Merger and Embraced a Risky Release Strategy

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“How do we make audiences feel this is not just a ticket or a gimmick, that there’s a reason for all of this?” director Leigh Janiak tells TheWrap

Leigh Janiak Fear Street
Andrew Eccles/Netflix © 2021 Netflix, Inc.

Director Leigh Janiak had come aboard the “Fear Street” franchise with an ambitious plan to release three teen slasher horror movies in a short window. But while she was in production, something ominous was looming just over her shoulder: the Disney-Fox merger.

“We knew it was there on the horizon, from even when I was starting to write the scripts, the industry is starting to whisper, this thing is coming,” Janiak told TheWrap. “Winter is coming!”

Turns out there was reason to wonder, as Janiak’s story of getting the “Fear Street” movies to the screen has been an epic saga involving a change of studios, uncertain release plans and a little worldwide pandemic.

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