The First Omen trailer: The Omen prequel reaches theatres in April

A trailer has been released for The First Omen, a prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen. Nell Tiger Free stars

On April 5th, 20th Century Studios will be giving a theatrical release to The First Omen, which serves as a prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen (watch it HERE). With that date just three months away, a trailer for The First Omen has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above! A poster for the film has also been unveiled, and that can be seen at the bottom of this article.

The First Omen was directed by Arkasha Stevenson, based on characters created by David Seltzer, with a story by Ben Jacoby. Stevenson crafted the screenplay with Tim Smith and Keith Thomas. Here’s the synopsis: When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.

Nell Tiger Free of the Apple TV+ series Servant stars alongside Tawfeek Barhom (Mary Magdalene), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Ralph Ineson (The Northman), and Bill Nighy (Living).

The film was produced by David S. Goyer and Keith Levine, with Tim Smith serving as executive producer with Whitney Brown and Gracie Wheelan.

We first heard that a prequel to The Omen was in development way back in 2016. At that time, Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) was in talks to direct First Omen from a script by Ben Jacoby (Bleed). Later The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey Hayes came on board to work on the script, and they were followed by author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). The film ended up being directed by Arkasha Stevenson – who has previously directed episodes of the genre shows Channel ZeroLegion, and Brand New Cherry Flavor. Stevenson rewrote the script with her writing partner Tim Smith, then Firestarter‘s Keith Thomas worked on it as well.

Directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by David Seltzer, The Omen was released in 1976 and had the following synopsis: American diplomat Robert (Gregory Peck) adopts Damien (Harvey Stephens) when his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick), delivers a stillborn child. After Damien’s first nanny hangs herself, Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton) warns Robert that Damien will kill Katherine’s unborn child. Shortly thereafter, Brennan dies and Katherine miscarries when Damien pushes her off a balcony. As more people around Damien die, Robert investigates Damien’s background and realizes his adopted son may be the Antichrist.

The Omen was followed by Damien: Omen II in 1978, Omen III: The Final Conflict in 1981, Omen IV: The Awakening in 1991, and a 2006 remake.

What did you think of the trailer for The First Omen? Will you be watching this movie on the big screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The First Omen
Source: Arrow in the Head

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he's a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.