Inform everyone you can – this is real. The Mother Bird has landed at Orion Pictures. The studio behind the recent Child’s Play reboot is making a Momo movie. The premise of the Momo Challenge viral Internet hoax will be adapted by the studio, Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment and producer Taka Ichise, who brought us The Grudge and The Ring, according to Deadline.
The upcoming horror film will be based on the work of art that inspired the Momo Challenge. Momo was originally a sculpture named Mother Bird that Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa created in 2016, as part of a gallery exhibit in Tokyo. It then transformed into rumours of a game that challenged kids to hurt themselves and ultimately commit suicide.
The hoax went viral earlier this year, but despite press reports, there was no evidence of videos asking kids to take the Momo challenge, and YouTube said such videos would have been taken down for violating its policies anyway.
The Mother Bird was originally a depiction of the legend of Ubume, a venomous bird which snatches children in Japanese folklore. It went on to become internet legend, joining CreepyPasta’s Slender Man, which was made into a 2018 horror film directed by Sylvain White from a screenplay by David Birke.
This is the second movie based on the Momo Challenge heading into development. The upcoming secluded-cabin-in-the-woods movie Getaway, which will be directed by Lilton Stewart III, was also inspirated by the urban legend.
Roy Lee produced both It movies for New Line, and is likely to be felt to be in good hands – based on Stephen King’s book, the first It film is the highest-grossing horror film of all time.
There is no word on whether the Mother Bird sculpture will be incorporated into the film, or if the sculptor will be involved in production, and no Momo movie release date has been set yet.
