Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho is teaming with ZQ Entertainment to produce God’s Country — a new genre film starring Scream VI’s Melissa Barrera, which will mark the American directorial debut of Egor Abramenko (Sputnik).

The film going into production this summer will have Barrera playing a young Salvadoran woman who travels to Kentucky to meet her fiancé. What she uncovers is something sinister beyond comprehension, as her American dream curdles into a nightmare of biblical proportions.  

Will Soodik (Westworld) wrote the script. Reeves (The Batman) and Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will produce for 6th & Idaho, alongside ZQ Entertainment’s Ara Keshishian and Petr Jákl (who financed the development), Adam Kassan (End of Watch), and Barrera. WME reps foreign and co-represents domestic rights with CAA Media Finance, and will introduce the project at EFM.

“Egor is an exciting emerging talent,” Reeves told Deadline, “and I’m thrilled to be making a monster movie together.”

Abramenko is a Russian filmmaker who made his feature directorial debut with the sci-fi horror Sputnik. While the film’s 2020 release by IFC Midnight was hampered by the Covid pandemic, the pic drew critical acclaim and a number of major awards nominations including Critics Choice Super Awards in 2021. Other works from the filmmaker include the shorts The Passenger, Capsule and Polaroid Love.

Barrera is best known for her turns in Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream reboot, Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights for Warner Bros. and HBO Max and the acclaimed Starz series Vida. She’ll next be seen in Scream VI, which is out March 10; Sony Pictures Classics’ Carmen with Paul Mescal; and the Anthony McCarten-scripted feature The Collaboration, based on the acclaimed play.

6th & Idaho recently produced the Robert Pattinson starrer The Batman, co-written and directed for Warner Bros. by Reeves, which grossed over $770MM worldwide and is nominated for three Academy Awards. Reeves is currently writing The Batman — Part II for release in 2025; his 6th & Idaho banner is about to enter production on its Batman spinoff series The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell, for HBO Max. Other notable projects from the company include the sci-fi thriller Mother/Android for Hulu, Ordinary Joe for NBC, Tales from the Loop for Prime Video and the upcoming feature Lift for Netflix.

Among the first projects from former CAA agent and producer Ara Keshishian’s company, ZQ Entertainment, is an adaptation of the John Grisham book Calico Joe with George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse, which will have Clooney directing. The company is also in partnership with Anonymous Content on the upcoming book The Devil’s Playbook, currently being written by former Bloomberg reporter Lauren Etter, about the rise and fall of the Juul vaping company. Also in development is a series with Simon Kinberg and Stephen King, based on King’s short story, “Obits.”Reeves is represented by CAA and 3 Arts; Abramenko by UTA and XYZ; Barrera by WME and Sugar23; and Soodik by WME, 3 Arts and HJTH. Martin J. Barab negotiated the deal on behalf of ZQ Entertainment.

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