'The Thing With Feathers' Sets October Release Date
Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Thing with Feathers'
Film4
Though most people view film festivals as industry celebrations full of celebrity appearances, nonstop premieres, and reports of those weird fifteen-minute-long standing ovations that inevitably happen at events like Cannes or Sundance, they're primarily a business opportunity. While some of the buzziest titles arrive at festivals intending to kick off award season campaigns (Conclave premiered at Telluride, for example), most are there looking for a major studio to help fund distribution and marketing efforts. Making movies is expensive!
This year's Sundance Film Festival, occurring so soon after the Los Angeles wildfires, was a bit of an odd beast. So it makes sense that there weren't many huge acquisitions or bidding wars for specific titles, and the whole process feels slower than normal. Of the sixty films that came into the festival looking for homes, a little over a dozen have found them to date. But the year is long and hope is not lost. Briarcliff Entertainment only just announced that it snagged the U.S. distribution rights to The Thing with Feathers, one of the biggest world premieres at the festival and a title with a fairly prestige pedigree behind it.
The film is based on Max Porter’s prize-winning 2015 novella Grief is the Thing with Feathers, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (The Roses) as a father struggling to process the sudden death of his wife. A folk horror-tinged exploration of sorrow, his family's grief is mad extremely literal (and sometimes quite malevolent) in the form of a giant crow that moves into their home uninvited.
"The Thing with Feathers" one-sheet
Here's the film's synopsis.
Struggling to process the sudden and unexpected death of his wife, a young father loses his hold on reality as a seemingly malign presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons
Alongside Cumberbatch, the cast also includes Sam Spruell (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), David Thewlis (Sherlock & Daughter), Vinette Robinson (The Lazarus Project), Eric Lampaert (A Drive at Dawn), and newcomers Richard and Henry Boxall.
“Dylan Southern has crafted something truly unique — an emotional gut punch wrapped in a dark, fantastical nightmare,” Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Briarcliff Entertainment, said. “With its bold visual storytelling and powerhouse performances, The Thing With Feathers is an unforgettable exploration of grief, madness, and transformation. We’re thrilled to bring this vision to audiences.”
The film is written and directed by Dylan Southern (Meet Me in the Bathroom). Producers include Andrea Cornwell of Lobo Films (Love Lies Bleeding), and Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland of SunnyMarch Productions (We Live in Time), with backing from Film4 and the BFI (awarding National Lottery funding).
The Thing with Feathers is slated to hit theaters on October 31, 2025, leaning into the horror angle of its story for a Halloween-timed release.
