EXCLUSIVE: Should you encounter a pot of gold in your travels, beware — Leprechaun is back, with a new film penned by horror veterans Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan in the works at Lionsgate.

Oren Koules and Miles Koules are set to produce the new entry, whose plot is being kept under wraps, through their Koulest Productions banner. This marks Oren Koules’ second major horror franchise for Lionsgate, as he previously produced all 10 films in the Saw series, accounting for over a billion dollars in box office.

This is also Lionsgate’s second swing at revitalizing the Leprechaun franchise in just a few years. Felipe Vargas attached to direct a take from a script by Mike Van Waes in 2024; Roy Lee and Miri Yoon were to produce.

Speaking to his entrée into the world of Leprechaun, Oren Koules told Deadline, “After producing all the Saw films, and twenty-three wonderful years at Lionsgate, I’m thrilled to be working again with the Lionsgate team, Patrick and Marcus, and my son, Miles, on a terrifying new way into the rich world of Leprechaun.”

Dan Heffner and Ketura Kestin will executive produce the new film.

A cult horror-comedy franchise revolving around a murderous, wisecracking Leprechaun who will kill anyone who messes with his pot of gold, Leprechaun spans eight films released between 1993 and 2018. Writer-director Mark Jones was behind the original film, starring Warwick Davis as the vengeful leprechaun — a role he would perform in six films. Notably, Jennifer Aniston co-starred in the first, in one of her earliest career roles.

Lionsgate took control of the Leprechaun franchise when it acquired Trimark Pictures in 2000. Interestingly, Final Destination: Bloodlines breakout Zach Lipovsky directed one of the franchise’s most recent entries, 2014’s Leprechaun: Origins. Showing an enduring popularity over the years, the Leprechaun films run in a marathon on Syfy network every St. Patrick’s Day.

Scribes Melton & Dunstan have previously teamed to write horror titles like The Collector, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Unhuman; Dunstan directed several of those films. The team also wrote Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D, the seventh film in the series. They are represented by Independent Artist Group, Underground, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.

EXCLUSIVE: Should you encounter a pot of gold in your travels, beware — Leprechaun is back, with a new film penned by horror veterans Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan in the works at Lionsgate.

Oren Koules and Miles Koules are set to produce the new entry, whose plot is being kept under wraps, through their Koulest Productions banner. This marks Oren Koules’ second major horror franchise for Lionsgate, as he previously produced all 10 films in the Saw series, accounting for over a billion dollars in box office.

This is also Lionsgate’s second swing at revitalizing the Leprechaun franchise in just a few years. Felipe Vargas attached to direct a take from a script by Mike Van Waes in 2024; Roy Lee and Miri Yoon were to produce.

Speaking to his entrée into the world of Leprechaun, Oren Koules told Deadline, “After producing all the Saw films, and twenty-three wonderful years at Lionsgate, I’m thrilled to be working again with the Lionsgate team, Patrick and Marcus, and my son, Miles, on a terrifying new way into the rich world of Leprechaun.”

Dan Heffner and Ketura Kestin will executive produce the new film.

A cult horror-comedy franchise revolving around a murderous, wisecracking Leprechaun who will kill anyone who messes with his pot of gold, Leprechaun spans eight films released between 1993 and 2018. Writer-director Mark Jones was behind the original film, starring Warwick Davis as the vengeful leprechaun — a role he would perform in six films. Notably, Jennifer Aniston co-starred in the first, in one of her earliest career roles.

Lionsgate took control of the Leprechaun franchise when it acquired Trimark Pictures in 2000. Interestingly, Final Destination: Bloodlines breakout Zach Lipovsky directed one of the franchise’s most recent entries, 2014’s Leprechaun: Origins. Showing an enduring popularity over the years, the Leprechaun films run in a marathon on Syfy network every St. Patrick’s Day.

Scribes Melton & Dunstan have previously teamed to write horror titles like The Collector, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Unhuman; Dunstan directed several of those films. The team also wrote Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D, the seventh film in the series. They are represented by Independent Artist Group, Underground, and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.

E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson briefed Wall Street analysts Friday on the company’s “transformation plan,” which has entailed cutting 12% of its total workforce amid an embrace of AI.

The layoffs, mostly at the company’s local TV stations, come as the company adopts a 24-hour streaming news model enabled by artificial intelligence. Symson rose through the corporate ranks as a digital executive at Scripps, a nearly 150-year-old company which also owns the ION broadcast network, newspapers and multicast networks.

During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Symson described a “revolution” in the way the company generates local news programming. “We’re leaning into AI, automation, technology and the centralization of some roles,” he said. The changes will make the company’s local station group “a technology-forward, AI-powered broadcast journalism company dedicated to serving our communities with the same high-quality, fact-based reporting that they’ve relied on us for over the past 150 years.”

The new setup will “improve our operating model and better serve our audiences,” he said. “We are not wavering on our commitment to quality journalism.”

Scripps disclosed 268 job cuts earlier this week. Since the beginning of the year, Symson said, the company has eliminated 432 positions and 126 open jobs, accounting for about 12% of the company’s total. The cuts, which will help the company achieve $100 million in run rate savings, coming quarters will see additional savings.

Symson called the job cuts “a painful process full of difficult decisions,” adding execs are making the moves “knowing they are financially necessary for fulfilling our mission.”

Prior to the earnings call, Scripps released second-quarter results below Wall Street expectations, saying they reflect “challenges on a number of fronts.” The company posted revenue of $490.4 million, down 9% from the year-ago period, and a net loss of 34 cents a share.

Broadcasters of all sizes, especially local station owners, have been battling cord-cutting and coping with ongoing audience and advertiser shifts away from linear viewing. The No. 1 owner of stations in the U.S., Nexstar Media Group, has entered a legal quagmire after announcing the close of a $6.2 billion acquisition of rival Tegna, with the outcome likely to have an impact on the entire sector. DirecTV and a group of state attorneys general sued to try to block the deal, arguing it violated antitrust laws. A federal judge agreed, freezing the two companies’ integration despite the fact the transaction technically closed. An appeal of the District Court ruling will be heard in the fall.

Scripps said the layoffs and increased use of technology will help the company increase EBITDA by $125 million to $150 million by 2028 through cost savings and revenue stimuli.

Despite the earnings miss, Scripps shares rose more than 20% in mid-day trading on the cost cutting details. Last year, the company rebuffed a hostile takeover bid by rival Sinclair Inc. Asked by one analyst on the call whether the company could potentially change hands one day soon, Symson said he could not speak on behalf of the family that controls Scripps shares. Speaking for himself, he said his focus is on building the company and continuing its workforce overhaul rather than entertaining offers to sell.

Amid the bigger headlines about job cuts and technology, Symson also joined other station leaders in hailing the FCC’s vote Thursday to eliminate the federal cap on local TV station ownership. The decision is likely to be challenged in court, but it has been championed by local broadcasters and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as a necessary way to seek a more level playing field between TV stations and Big Tech.

The rules limiting ownership of stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households, which date to the 1990s, “once served an important purpose, but they were put in place well before the digital revolution, well before consumers have the kind of choices they do today,” Symson said.