EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Animation has announced an untitled Dan Trachtenberg animated comedy horror based on the graphic novel Freddy the 13th by Yehudi Mercado.

The project announcement comes four months after the 10 Cloverfield Lane and Predator: Badlands director Trachtenberg signed a three-year producing and directing first-look deal with the animation division’s parent company Paramount Pictures.

Trachtenberg will also produce the animated project with longtime collaborator Ben Rosenblatt.

Released in late 2025, the Freddy The 13th graphic novel follows the trials and tribulations of the hapless Freddy Vanwinkle, the thirteenth son of a thirteenth-born son who fails at everything in contrast to his brilliant siblings.

One night, while looking after his nephew and niece Logan and Lola, he accidentally kills the legendary slasher Nighty Night and automatically inherits the mantle of the monster. With rival killers emerging out of the shadows, Freddy has thirteen nights to break the curse.

The new project follows in the wake of Trachtenberg’s 2025 releases: the animated Predator: Killer of Killers for Hulu, and live action hit Predator: Badlands, which grossed $184m worldwide.

The logline for the new movie adaptation reads: “a family vacation turns into a nightmare when fun Uncle Freddy accidentally kills the Boogeyman and takes on his powers.”

Paramount Animation are pitching the feature as PG-rated horror delivering “scares and laughs to the whole family”.

Paramount Animation unveiled the project as the Annecy International Animation Film Festival gets underway in France.

Company President Jennifer Dodge touches down at the festival this week for Special Event devoted to Paramount Animation production PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie ahead of its release on August 14.

In other projects on its slate, the division recently announced The Naughty List from Robert Rodriguez, an animated feature based on CBS’s Survivor franchise