Overview
- Deadline, Bloody Disgusting and JoBlo reported on Thursday, July 16, 2026, that Julius Avery will direct Crush, marking the first significant update since 20th Century Studios acquired the spec last fall.
- The film is described by sources as a real-time survival thriller about a woman who wakes trapped in the coils of a giant python in the Florida Everglades.
- Writer John Fischer, a Temple Hill executive who posted the script on the Black List under the pseudonym J.W. Archer, sold the spec in a multi-studio bidding war that 20th won last year.
- Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey and Scott Glassgold’s 12:01 Films are producing with J. R. Young overseeing the project for 20th, while casting and a production start date have not been announced.
- Avery’s recent genre credits and the producers’ active horror slate suggest the studio is positioning Crush as a tightly focused, director-led survival picture and the next step will be casting and formal pre-production planning.