Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver Partner in Formation of Dark Castle Entertainment
“House on Haunted Hill” will be Company's First Film Production
 Entertainment Wire |
Burbank, Calif. — Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis have partnered in the formation of Dark Castle Entertainment, a new film company created in association with, in their words, "the spirit of the late William Castle," who produced and directed several memorable horror films during the 1950s and 1960s.
The new company is expected to produce a series of mid-budget horror pictures, the first of which will be House on Haunted Hill, scheduled to begin principal photography on Jan. 28 in Los Angeles for distribution by Warner Bros.
Zemeckis and Silver, who have previously partnered with Richard Donner, Walter Hill and David Giler on the highly successful Tales from the Crypt series, anticipate that some of the Dark Castle films will be re-makes of classic thrillers and others will be original works in the same vein.
House on Haunted Hill is a new version of the classic 1958 horror film, which originally starred Vincent Price. In its present version, the film will be directed by William Malone (who directed three Tales from the Crypt episodes and recently wrote Supernova, directed by Walter Hill) and will be produced by Zemeckis, Silver and Gil Adler (Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight).
The screenplay for House on Haunted Hill is by Dick Beebe from a story by Dick Beebe & William Malone, adapted from the screenplay by Robb White. Dan Cracchiolo and Steve Richards executive-produce the film.
It follows five strangers who have been offered a million dollars each to spend one night in a house with a hideous past. As the occupants learn more about the history of the house, which was once an insane asylum headed by a deranged doctor, they come to understand the true power of evil and to recognize that it animates the very walls of the building they inhabit.
The story combines white-knuckle terror with dark humor; the filmmakers plan to use state-of-the-art special effects to bring the story further into contemporary focus.
Joel Silver is one of the most successful producers in the motion picture industry today, with the combined gross of his films at $2.8 billion. With 1998's release of Lethal Weapon 4, 13 of Silver's films have each earned worldwide box-office totals of more than $100 million.
Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, eventually becoming president of motion pictures. He associate-produced The Warriors and, with Gordon, produced 48 HRS., Streets of Fire and Brewster's Millions.
Silver's first independent production under his Silver Pictures banner was Commando, followed by Jumpin' Jack Flash and Predator.
Silver then produced (with Richard Donner) Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Lethal Weapon 3 and Lethal Weapon 4 (all directed by Donner), as well as Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, The Last Boy Scout, Demolition Man, Richie Rich and Conspiracy Theory (with Donner, who also directed).
Silver also executive-produced, with Richard Donner, Robert Zemeckis, David Giler and Walter Hill, two Tales from the Crypt films: Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood.
Robert Zemeckis earned the Best Director Oscar for 1994's smash hit Forrest Gump, which also was named Best Picture and earned Tom Hanks the Best Actor Oscar, securing Zemeckis a position as one of the preeminent filmmakers in the industry. He then directed the 1997 hit Contact, which starred Jodie Foster and was inspired by Carl Sagan's best-selling novel.
Zemeckis' films have earned worldwide grosses in excess of $2 billion.
Zemeckis' credits include the groundbreaking box-office smash Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which became the top-grossing film of 1988 (and in which Joel Silver played a cameo role as Raoul J. Raoul). In 1985, he directed and co-wrote Back to the Future, which also topped the annual box-office chart.
He went on to direct the film's two sequels, completing one of the most popular film trilogies ever. His other films include Romancing the Stone, Death Becomes Her and Used Cars.