Hollywood is continuing to mine the internet for its next big horror film.

Amazon MGM Studios, United Artists, and Amblin’s Steven Spielberg have secured the film rights to The Mandela Catalogue in a competitive 11-studio bidding war. Alex Kister will direct the adaptation of his own viral YouTube series about a town invaded by shape-shifting creatures called Alternates.

The news follows yesterday’s announcement of a film based on the creepypasta character “Siren Head” with Zach Cregger (Weapons) producing. As expected, Hollywood is turning to internet horror IP following the overwhelming success of Backrooms and Obsession.

Kister launched the analogue horror series in 2021, at only seventeen years old. The decision for him to direct the feature is certainly supported by Backrooms, which was directed by a 20-year-old Kane Parsons, who made the original YouTube web series.

While not regarded as horror films by many, Spielberg has contributed significantly to the genre with creature features Jaws and Jurassic Park. The renowned director also wrote and produced Poltergeist and executive produced Gremlins and Arachnophobia.

“I haven’t directed a horror film yet, and I’ve always wanted to, and someday I may,” he told Empire this year. But the director did go on to suggest that might not happen after watching Zach Cregger’s Weapons. “When I see a great horror film like Weapons, I don’t have an itch I need to scratch. It satisfied me so completely.”