EXCLUSIVE: The chilling effect of the Sony Pictures hack and terrorist threats against The Interview are reverberating. New Regency has scrapped another project that was to be set in North Korea. The untitled thriller, set up in October, was being developed by director Gore Verbinski as a star vehicle for Foxcatcher star Steve Carell. The paranoid thriller written by Steve Conrad was going to start production in March. Insiders tell me that under the current circumstances, it just makes no sense to move forward. The location won’t be transplanted. Fox declined to distribute it, per a spokesman.

Regency has other movies with Verbinski as part of a multiyear, multipicture deal, and they will focus on them. He moves on to A Cure For Wellness, an elevated horror film written by Revolutionary Road scribe Justin Haythe, and Passengers. There also is a large-scale action comedy scripted by Conrad. The plan was to make three films in quick succession. Now they will make two that way.