Cornerstone Films has picked up worldwide sales rights to UK director Jon Wright’s creature feature THE LITTLE PEOPLE. Described by Wright as “Gremlins meets Straw Dogs,” the film is based on an original screenplay by Wright and John Stay.

“This is a one-of-a-kind page-turner of a script that does a brilliant job of marrying real scares with moments of pure entertainment,” says Cornerstone Films’ Mark Gooder. “Jon has a brilliant vision for the film and a great team around him to deliver on such a thrilling premise.”

Londoners Maya and Jamie escape their urban nightmare to the tranquility of rural Ireland only to discover malevolent, murderous goblins lurking in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden. When heavily pregnant Maya’s relationship with a local family turns sour, who – or what – will come to her rescue and what extremes will she go to to protect her unborn child?

The film reunites the creature team from Jon Wright’s previous feature Grabbers; including prosthetics by Shaune Harrison (Harry Potter films, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) along with creature designs by Paul Catling (Maleficent, Thor, Fantastic Beasts) and long time Wright collaborator VFX supervisor Paddy Eason (28 Weeks Later, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).

The Little People is produced by Piers Tempest and Jo Bamford’s Tempo Productions with Cornerstone Films and Peter Touche of Ingenious Media executive producing. Cornerstone Films will present the film to the buyers at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market.

“We are delighted to be working with Jon again and our partners at Cornerstone to deliver a film that I am confident will surprise, shock and thoroughly entertain audiences,” says Tempest.