Underworld duo Marlind and Stein return to Sweden for Collected Swedish Cults

While Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein’s American 3D horror actioner Underworld: Awakening, starring Kate Beckinsale, has grossed more than $150 million since its opening last month (Feb), the Swedish director duo has announced they will return to their native Sweden to make Collected Swedish Cults, the first feature from Swedish author Anders Fager’s books.

In an in-house deal, Bonnier’s Swedish major Svensk Filmindustri has purchased the rights from Bonnier Group Agency for the 2011 collection of tales ”of good versus evil in a  world inhabited by the supernatural.”

“With Collected Swedish Cults I have everything I need to succeed trying to set a new standard, visually but also storytelling wise,” said Mårlind who will shortly deliver the first draft.

“Although we had never met before, we share the same morbid fascination with morbid stories – we seem to have the same books at home, only on different shelves,” Fager added.

Collected Swedish Cults will be produced by Karl Fredrik Ulfung for Svensk Filmindustri, which will also handle Nordic distribution; Ulfung expected the film to be ready for local theatres by the end of next year. It will be Mårlind’s first production in Sweden since Storm (2005); with Stein, whom he met at film school, he directed Shelter (2010), before they took over Underworld: Awakening from Len Wiseman.