Genre film label Badlands, an offshoot of "John Wick" producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee's Thunder Road, has acquired the spec script "Wildman", a horror project pitched as "John Wick" meets Bigfoot. The film follows Bigfoot as he hunts down the hunters who killed his younger brother, seeking to retrieve the body while exacting revenge along the way. The deal marks the first ever screenwriting sale for its author, Texas-based writer Jacob Rainer.

Rainer, a self-confessed Bigfoot enthusiast, entered the script into Scriptshadow.net's "Blood and Ink" horror screenplay contest, where site founder Carson Reeves singled it out; Reeves is now attached as executive producer. The script subsequently caught the attention of manager Jake Wagner of Alibi Entertainment. Badlands, backed by Renegade Capital, is preparing its debut feature "Crawlers" for a US release on 16 October, alongside other projects including "Dangerous Games to Play", "Perfect Girl", "Hivemind" and "Blasphemous".