Dan Trachtenberg Is Making an Animated Horror-Comedy Where a Bumbling Uncle Accidentally Becomes the Boogeyman
Dan Trachtenberg has spent the last several years reshaping one of Hollywood’s most beloved monster franchises into a critically celebrated powerhouse. With ‘Prey,’ ‘Predator: Killer of Killers,’ and ‘Predator: Badlands’ all in his filmography, the director has become one of genre cinema’s most reliable names when it comes to finding fresh angles on familiar territory.
That creative momentum recently landed Trachtenberg a major new home base. He signed a three-year first-look directing and producing deal with Paramount Pictures, marking a return to the studio where he launched his feature career with ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ back in 2016. That deal extends to Paramount Animation, which is now the stage for his most unexpected project yet.
Announced exclusively by Deadline, Paramount Animation has revealed that Trachtenberg will direct an animated horror-comedy based on the graphic novel ‘Freddy the 13th’ by creator Yehudi Mercado. The film follows a family vacation that unravels when fun-loving Uncle Freddy accidentally kills the Boogeyman and finds himself inheriting all of the monster’s terrifying powers. Trachtenberg will also produce alongside his longtime collaborator Ben Rosenblatt.
The source material, released in late 2025, follows the trials and tribulations of the hapless Freddy Vanwinkle, the thirteenth son of a thirteenth-born son who fails at everything in sharp contrast to his brilliant siblings. When an accidental run-in with the legendary slasher Nighty Night passes the monster’s mantle onto Freddy’s shoulders, he finds himself stuck babysitting his niece and nephew for thirteen nights of terror while rival killers crawl out of the shadows to seize the throne. Imagining a world where Uncle Buck becomes Jason Voorhees, which may be the most efficient pitch for an animated feature ever committed to a sentence.
Trachtenberg’s arrival at Paramount has been part of a broader wave of high-profile filmmaker deals at the studio, which has also brought in names like the Duffer Brothers, Jon M. Chu, and James Mangold as it builds out its creative roster under new ownership. The ‘Freddy the 13th’ announcement comes just four months after Trachtenberg’s first-look deal was confirmed, suggesting the director hit the ground running with projects already in motion.
The animation space is already familiar ground for Trachtenberg, and pairing horror-comedy sensibilities with a filmmaker known for tonal control feels like a genuinely exciting combination. ‘Predator: Badlands’ became the highest-grossing entry in the franchise’s history, earning $184.5 million worldwide, so there is plenty of commercial goodwill backing whatever he decides to do next.
Whether ‘Freddy the 13th’ ends up being Trachtenberg’s most unexpected pivot or the natural next chapter for a director who has always loved blending warmth with dread, it is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing animated projects on the horizon. Is an accidental, horror-obsessed, perpetually unlucky Boogeyman-by-default the animated horror icon you have been waiting for, or does this premise need more convincing before you are sold?
