In advance of Comic-Con International 2025 in San Diego, CA, groundbreaking comic book publisher Oni Press and award-winning production company Valhalla Entertainment today announced that Valhalla has preemptively acquired Oni’s upcoming series Yuletide – created by writer George Northy (EC’s Shiver SuspenStories) and artist Rachele Aragno (Mike Mignola’s Leonide the Vampire) – for development as a feature film in advance of the comic book series’ debut in October 2025.
Northy – a writer/producer best known for his work on Charmed for The CW and his recent comics debut as part of Oni’s best-selling EC Comics relaunch – will produce and script the adaptation. Gale Anne Hurd and Phillip Kobylanski will produce for Valhalla, alongside David Steward II, Hunter Gorinson, and Jeremy Colfer for Oni Press.
A fast-placed family adventure in the tradition of The Goonies, Goosebumps, and Hocus Pocus with a horrifying holiday twist, YULETIDE is the story of ancient creatures let loose upon an idyllic Northeastern town at the height of the gift-giving season – and the only three teenagers capable of holding them at bay with an ancient secret tied to the origins of the holiday itself:
Welcome to the small town of Christmas, Pennsylvania – the merriest place on Earth . . . or so they’d like everyone to think. When December rolls around, these folks pull out all the stops for America’s biggest, brightest holiday display . . . but not everyone in Christmas, PA, is so enthusiastic. Teenagers Jake, Abe, and Wyn are more interested in the dark side of the holiday that their parents like to pretend doesn’t exist . . . The ancient legends of mythic monsters and pagan pandemonium that are deeply tied to the festival’s long-forgotten origins. So when their hobby leads them to an abandoned wing of the local Christmas museum to investigate, they’ll discover an ancient relic that, when activated, will bring a furious procession of yuletide horrors long since banished from our plane – and with it, a darkness that has been waiting centuries for its chance to overtake the world.
“I’ve long been fascinated by the dark, strange, obscure Yuletide monsters from various cultures, from Germany to Iceland to Wales. The way these demons have been buried and forgotten felt like the perfect metaphor for how we often bury our own darkness and personal demons throughout the holidays,” said writer George Northy. “If Buffy taught us “High School can be Hell,” then Yuletide will show that the best way of dealing with our own holiday demons isn’t by pretending they aren’t there, it’s by facing them together.”
“There is so much fantastic lore of the midwinter that runs the risk of being forgotten to time,” said Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Entertainment. “With Yuletide, George and Rachele have given us the perfect opportunity to bring those larger-than-life characters back to life so they can continue to haunt us for generations to come.”
“Every once in a while, a team of creators emerges with a pitch so inspired, so compelling, and so dead-center on the bullseye that it immediately provokes one question: ‘Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?’ So it was with George and Rachele’s vision for YULETIDE – a story that comes joyously filled with heart, humor, and adventure like so many gifts tightly packed into a Christmas stocking. This is a holiday story you’ll know by heart in just a few years’ time, and we couldn’t ask for better partners in bringing to the page and screen,” said Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson.
With the first issue set to debut in comic shops in October, the Yuletide comic series from Northy and Aragno will span three, extra-long, 40-page monthly chapters – counting down to an artfully timed finale on shelves just in time for the holidays in December.
The series joins a long list of high-profile film and television projects currently in development from Oni Press – the iconic indie comics imprint that has inspired many influential adaptations, including director Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World(based on creator Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series), director Sam Hargrave’s Extraction franchise for Netflix, and director David Leitch’sAtomic Blonde – that also includes Sam Hargrave’s upcoming feature film Kill Them All(based on the graphic novel by cartoonist Kyle Starks) for Paramount Pictures.
Take a look at several preview pages from issue #1 below:
Oni Press will reveal more about Yuletide during its upcoming appearance at Comic Con International in San Diego, beginning on Wednesday, July 23rd. Visit them at Booth #1829.
