By Rowan Vale Fact-checked by Fiona Dalrymple Updated
CONFIRMED
Studiocanal’s genre label Sixth Dimension is in early development on a feature film based on The Headliners, the co-op horror game about journalists photographing an alien invasion, according to a Variety exclusive published Oct 21, 2026. The studio’s own pitch for the tone is a mashup of Cloverfield and Ghostbusters, with a detour through Nightcrawler.
What we know
Variety reports that Sixth Dimension is adapting The Headliners as a feature film. The project is at an early stage, and the story came from Variety first. Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting both built their coverage on Variety’s exclusive, and neither appears to have confirmed it independently. We could not find a separate press release from Studiocanal or Kafi Games, so for now everything traces back to Variety.
The headline comparison is not an outlet’s shorthand. Bloody Disgusting, quoting the statement Variety published, confirms that Sixth Dimension head Jed Benedict described the film as “as if Cloverfield met Ghostbusters via Nightcrawler.” Benedict said the movie will follow the mayhem “through the cameras of the journalists.” In the same statement, reported by Variety, he called the game “a hilarious and unique entry point into the alien invasion genre.”
So what is the game? The Steam store listing shows The Headliners launched on PC on Jan 30, 2025, with KAFI as both developer and publisher. The listing describes co-op play for teams of 1 to 8 journalists. Variety describes it as released by Kafi Games in 2025, developed by Lucas Bouyoux and Bruno Grégoire, and puts players in the role of journalists photographing an alien-infested New York.
Variety also reports the game has sold over 1.5 million copies as a PC exclusive. That number is Variety’s report; we have not seen it in a publisher filing.
As for the label itself, Sixth Dimension was first announced by Studiocanal as its in-house genre outfit in March 2024. Dread Central notes the label also had a hand in the Silent Night, Deadly Night reboot.
What we don’t know yet
Almost everything about the actual movie. Variety reports that no director, writer, cast, plot or release date has been announced. There is no word on budget, shooting plans or whether the film will lean fully into found footage or simply borrow that flavor.
We also don’t know how involved the game’s creators will be. Neither Kafi Games nor Bouyoux and Grégoire have made a statement that reached us, and Studiocanal has not put out its own announcement beyond what Variety carried.
What it means
The pitch tells us more about tone than any plot detail could right now. Cloverfield points to street-level, camera-in-hand monster chaos. Ghostbusters points to horror comedy where the jokes and the threat share the frame. Nightcrawler is the interesting third ingredient, because it suggests the story cares about the people holding the cameras and what they are willing to do for the shot.
That trio fits the game well. Benedict’s own word for the source material was “hilarious,” and a multiplayer game about chasing photos while aliens tear up New York lives on exactly that blend of panic and comedy. A film that stays “through the cameras of the journalists” could keep the game’s core hook intact instead of turning it into a generic invasion movie.
Still, this is early development with a single-outlet foundation and no creative team. Pitches change once writers and directors arrive. For now, the safe read is simple: Sixth Dimension wants a funny, scrappy, media-satire alien horror film, and The Headliners is the vehicle. We will update when Studiocanal or Kafi Games say more.
Behind this article
- Fact-checked by Fiona Dalrymple before publication.
- Published · Updated
How we checked it
- Every claim is checked by Fiona Dalrymple; anything we cannot confirm is corrected, labelled or removed.