{"id":638806,"date":"2026-04-30T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638806\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:25:08","slug":"good-boy-director-ben-leonberg-to-make-drone-horror-follow-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/638806\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Good Boy’ Director Ben Leonberg To Make Drone Horror ‘Follow Mode’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Smile and Twilight producer Temple Hill<\/a> is teaming up once more with UK sales firm Protagonist, this time on Ben Leonberg<\/a>\u2018s (Good Boy<\/a>) next horror feature Follow Mode<\/a>, which is due to be shot entirely on drones and aims to tap into the live stream generation.<\/p>\n

\n\tLeonberg is coming off breakout horror Good Boy, which was IFC\u2019s second-biggest theatrical opening weekend (second only to Temple Hill\u2019s Clown in a Cornfield). <\/p>\n

\n\tProtagonist is launching international sales at the upcoming Cannes<\/a> market. Temple Hill and Verve Ventures are co-repping domestic rights. Script comes from Leonberg and Alex Cannon, who also co-scripted Good Boy. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe synopsis reads: \u201cConsumer-grade drones now come with a \u201chands-free\u201d setting that automatically directs the camera to follow you \u2013 in case you\u2019re a surfer taking your next wave, a snowboarder back-flipping off a half-pipe, or a serial killer stalking your next victim. When a group of teens knock this drone out of the sky, they discover that it contains home movies of the killer\u2019s brutal crimes. Now, they must race to expose the killer before becoming his next victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is being produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, John Fischer, Hal Sadoff, and Ben Levine for Temple Hill, with Protagonist Pictures<\/a>\u2019 Dave Bishop, James Pugh and George Hamilton serving as executive producers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project marks the sixth collaboration between Temple Hill and Protagonist, following Clown in a Cornfield, as well as Monitor (SXSW) which was recently acquired by Searchlight for a wide theatrical release in the U.S in 2027. Launched in Cannes last year, the first instalment of the horror trilogy The Rule of Three recently wrapped and Protagonist will also be screening in Cannes the SXSW title Seekers of Infinite Love.<\/p>\n

\n\tCanine horror Good Boy, made on a micro-budget, played last year at SXSW and Film at Lincoln Center before going on to score $8.8M worldwide, including $6.6M domestically.<\/p>\n

\n\tDave Bishop, CEO of Protagonist Pictures, said: \u201cTemple Hill once again proves its instinct for fresh, audience-grabbing horror. Follow Mode is the kind of bold, high-concept horror that stops you in your tracks \u2013 propulsive, original and viscerally thrilling from its first frame to its last. In Good Boy, Ben proved he is a filmmaker both comfortable pushing boundaries and mastering tension. Shot entirely with drones, delivering a strikingly cinematic experience, Follow Mode offers a new perspective on terror audiences have simply never seen before. Ben has crafted a rare, diabolical treat that feels both groundbreaking and deeply unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLeonberg added: \u201cThe rise of hands-free drone technology has introduced a chilling new vulnerability to everyday life\u2014anyone with a drone can become a peeping tom, a stalker, or worse\u2026 That anxiety drives Follow Mode. We\u2019re so thrilled to be partnered with Temple Hill, whose track record in the genre makes them a perfect fit for this unsettling new take on found footage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTemple Hill commented: \u201cWe were blown away by Ben\u2019s first film Good Boy and its original approach to perspective in the horror space and sought him out to find something to do together. We see Follow Mode as the next evolution of the found footage movie \u2013 playing on the terrifying reality that any of us could be followed and watched by store-bought technology. With Ben\u2019s tremendous vision and expertise in POV filmmaking, we couldn\u2019t be more excited to share this spine-chilling project with audiences around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Smile and Twilight producer Temple Hill is teaming up once more with UK sales firm Protagonist, this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[170058,49,48,43877,234871,75,238536,47965,337,238537,238538],"class_list":["post-638806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ben-leonberg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cannes","tag-cannes-market","tag-entertainment","tag-follow-mode","tag-good-boy","tag-movies","tag-protagonist-pictures","tag-temple-hill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}