Sixteen years passed from the time Eli Roth made a slasher faux trailer called Thanksgiving for the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse to the day when a feature version of Thanksgiving (read our review HERE) finally made its way into theatres – and soon after that movie was released in 2023, it was announced that a sequel would be coming along in 2025. Five months ago, we heard that Thanksgiving 2 would start filming in March… but that didn’t happen. To be ready for a Thanksgiving 2025 release, the slasher sequel would need to start filming any day now. But apparently we’re not getting Thanksgiving 2 this year, because it has just been announced that Roth will be making a different horror movie called Ice Cream Man in Canada this summer!
Media Capital Technologies (MCT) and The Horror Section are fully financing Ice Cream Man, which follows an idyllic summer town descending into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. Plot details are being kept under wraps. A press release notes that Roth will be directing the film from a screenplay he wrote, based on “an original idea he has had for over twenty years, but studios were too nervous to finance.”
Roth is producing alongside MCT’s Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh and Cream’s Kate Harrison. Executive producers include MCT’s Connor DiGregorio and Eli Massillon and The Horror Section’s Jon Schnaars. WME Independent represent the international distribution rights and plan to introduce it to buyers in at the Cannes market. The Horror Section holds the U.S. rights to the film and the plan is to give it a wide theatrical release during the 2nd quarter of 2026.
Roth provided the following statement: “I’ve had this idea for a long, long time, and studios were too afraid of my early drafts. Now’s the time to push the envelope farther than I ever have with what I think will be my most terrifying and insane film to date. Films like Ice Cream Man are what we created The Horror Section for, to make unrated, boundary-pushing theatrical events the horror fans can all scream about for years. I’m very lucky to have such fantastic partners like MCT and, of course, all the investors in The Horror Section.” Woodrow and Singh added, “Working with Eli is always a privilege, and this film feels fresh and exciting as it’s his first original project in the independent market in nearly a decade. We believe Ice Cream Man will mark the start of the next great horror franchise with massive commercial potential.“
Does Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
