Nick Jonas Books Holiday Horror Movie ‘White Elephant’ … Where a Gift Exchange Leads to ‘Christmas Carnage!’

Nick Jonas warmed hearts with his siblings in the warm, fuzzy and silly last year’s A Very Jonas Christmas Movie. But this holiday season, the Jonas Brothers singer and Power Ballad star will crank up the chill factor when he co-stars with Kathryn Newton (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) in MRC’s holiday horror film White Elephant.

According to Deadline, the film directed by Eli Craig (Clown in a Cornfield) will tell the story of “Eight friends. One prize. Zero trust. Their annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.”

Jonas is among the producers through his Powered By Jonas company. At press time no additional information was available about the rest of the cast or a release date. The news of the Christmas creeper movie comes after Jonas premiered his new musical dramedy, Power Ballad, at SXSW earlier this year, a film in which he and Paul Rudd play an unlikely musical duo who rediscover the joy of songwriting together. That movie, directed by John Carney (Once, Sing Street) is slated to be released by Lionsgate on June 5.

It will be a busy year in the multiplex for Jonas, who is slated to co-star alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart in the latest Jumanji sequel from Columbia Pictures. Jonas will also star in the high-stakes thriller Bodyman, from director Gary Fleder (Reacher), described as the story of a longtime bodyguard of an “eccentric billionaire” who unexpectedly inherits his dead boss’ private military company, setting off a violent clash with the man’s family.

In a statement, Fleder called Bodyman a “smart, lean, high-voltage action thriller that gives Nick the chance to show every side of what he can do: the physicality, the intensity and the emotional depth”; Bodyman will also be produced by Powered by Jonas. “I’ve been developing this project for a while and I’m excited to see it come to fruition. Re-teaming with Byron Balasco and director Gary Fleder also makes this project more special to me,” Jonas said in a statement.

Jonas released his first solo album in five years, Sunday Best, in February.