There was a need to film during the summer of 2018 because originally, the new Grudge movie was slated for a summer 2019 release.
However, the movie hit a stumbling block in the form of a lawsuit, with original Ju-On producer Taka lchise.
Those issues are now behind the film and it’s set to open next month.
However, one has to figure that if the production had known it wasn’t going to open until January 2020, it could have started filming later in the year and avoided those pesky Canadian summer issues.