Dave Franco joins Sophie Wilde in alien invasion thriller heading to Cannes market

Dave Franco has been cast opposite Sophie Wilde in Soon You Will Be Gone And Possibly Eaten, an alien invasion thriller directed by Egor Abramenko and launching for sales at this month’s Cannes Film Market.

A horror-comedy premise with serious genre pedigree

The film was first announced in February 2026 with Wilde attached, and Deadline confirmed Franco’s casting on 5 May, timed to coincide with pre-sales at Cannes. The project lands Franco and Wilde as Rob and Sabile — a young engaged couple who travel to a secluded mountain resort to get married, only for their ceremony to be crashed by very unexpected guests.

Behind the camera, director Egor Abramenko brings serious genre credentials. His 2020 Russian sci-fi film Sputnik won international attention for its slow-burn creature tension, and he is currently in post-production on A24’s upcoming horror Altar.

The writing team and source material

The screenplay was written by Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins, the duo behind Hulu’s 2022 Hellraiser reboot and Searchlight and Anton’s The Night House. Their script adapts a short story by Nick Antosca — creator of Channel Zero and current showrunner of Apple TV’s forthcoming Cape Fear remake, which stars Javier Bardem and Amy Adams and carries executive producer credits for Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

The alien design will be handled by Armenian visual effects studio Monkey Rave, whose past credits include Halo and Locke & Key. Production design comes from Masha Slavina, a repeat Abramenko collaborator who also worked on both Sputnik and Altar.

Who’s in the cast?

The UK angle: Sophie Wilde’s British connection

While Sophie Wilde is Australian-born, British audiences know her well. She starred as Sophie Western in ITV’s period drama Tom Jones and led Netflix UK series Everything Now, both in 2023. She was also nominated for the BAFTA EE Rising Star Award in 2024, making her one of the most recognised young talents on this side of the Atlantic.

Her next UK cinema outing is Digger, the Alejandro G. Iñárritu film alongside Tom Cruise, which is expected to arrive in British cinemas in October 2026.

Production timeline and financing

Anton is fully financing the film and retaining worldwide rights. North American sales are being jointly handled by Anton, Anonymous Content, and WME Independent. Pre-sales are continuing at Cannes throughout May.

Production is scheduled to begin this summer. The film was developed by Anonymous Content, Eat the Cat, and Divide/Conquer. Producers include Dawn Olmstead and Nick Shumaker for Anonymous Content, Sébastien Raybaud for Anton, Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks for Divide/Conquer — the team behind Universal and Blumhouse’s M3GAN — and Antosca and Alex Hedlund for Eat the Cat.

Where this fits in the alien-invasion genre right now

Soon You Will Be Gone And Possibly Eaten arrives at a moment when genre films without major franchise IP are quietly gaining serious traction at market. The title itself appears to nod to the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man,” suggesting a darkly comic sensibility alongside its sci-fi threat.

Franco is coming off the magician sequel Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and has the road-trip comedy Idiots set for a theatrical release on 28 August. With both leads carrying strong genre credentials and a director known for visually striking creature work, the project has drawn genuine buzz ahead of its Cannes market debut.

For more on upcoming A24 releases and the latest in genre film casting, read our coverage of A24’s first trailer for Hugh Jackman’s The Death of Robin Hood and A24’s new Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimagining. You can also catch the latest on the streaming landscape with our article on Sony’s first teaser for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, arriving in UK cinemas on 18 September.