Paramount Pictures has signed a first-look producing deal with Platinum Dunes, the genre division run by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form with one of the first films planned under the deal to be The Butcherhouse Chronicles, a thriller that is being scripted by Stephen Susco (The Grudge) and is being likened to The Breakfast Club in a haunted house. Formed in 2001, Platinum Dunes has produced eight films, with the latest, a reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, in post-production. The hits include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which cost under $10 million and grossed $80 million domestic, Friday the 13th, which cost under $20 million and grossed more than $65 million domestic, and The Amityville Horror.
While Bay is well established at the studio on the high end with the "Transformers" franchise, Platinum Dunes puts him and his partners in position to be the go-to guys for low-budget fright fare.
"We offer a valuable service to the studio, especially with all this turmoil going on in the business right now, in that we do things cheaply, and we've had a lot of success with it," Bay told Daily Variety. "Through the first two 'Transformers' films, I've gotten to know the studio very well, and I've got a good rhythm with them. I'm excited about this."
The pact marks the first term deal given by Adam Goodman since he became president of the Paramount Pictures Film Group.
"What makes us so excited to have Platinum Dunes here at Paramount is how Michael, Brad and Andrew carved out an important niche for themselves over the past few years," Goodman said. "They have consistently created excitingly commercial movies that have proven to be a formidable force at the box office. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with them."
The Paramount relationship gets under way with "The Butcherhouse Chronicles," a thriller that is being scripted by Stephen Susco ("The Grudge") and is being likened to "The Breakfast Club" in a haunted house. The producers have also come aboard the Paramount project "Property of the State," a Howard Franklin-scripted thriller about a young white-collar criminal whose attempt to straighten out his life is imperiled by an obsessive and menacing parole officer.
Fuller said while Platinum Dunes has made its bones in genre, the producers want to branch into action and thriller films under the new deal.
"The key is making them at a low budget," Fuller said.
Let's see how profitable their pictures are when they apply the same mediocrity to original projects. I bet they won't see droves of ignorant teens showing up on opening weekend when they aren't remaking classics.
PLATINUM DUNES is doing exactly what HAMMER FILMS did in the 50s,60s and 70s...they're remaking movies for an audience that has very little interest in the originals...at least they're keeping the interest alive for the classic titles.
We, being horror fans, are finding this
very irritating, but we're in the Minority when it comes to New Horror Films...we make up about 30% of the audiences.
These films are made for the General Audiences who want only "fresh" filmmaking.
This is the way it goes...at least the GENERAL audiences are experiencing the ideas that captured our imaginations so long ago.
Ever since PLATINUM DUNES dropped their proposed "ROSEMARY'S BABY" remake, I've decided to get off their backs.
They had the good sense to leave a perfect adaptation of a great book alone.
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE-THE BEGINNING were worthy additions to the originals.
I think the NIGHTMARE remake has the potential to be great...we will see....
This will be a good test and interesting to see if PD can produce movies that aren't remakes and if people will turn out to see them. They're only making money now because the films they are putting out are brand names and people are familiar with those names.
Well said Biohazard ^_^ I agree 100% ANd wigth me being only 16, I can say that I enjoyed watching those remakes with friends... While they aren't as good as the originals, they are fun films =)
Well said, Biohazard. It's a pity so many horror fans today are completely oblivious to the genre's history... ironically, the same ones that are always complaining about how contemporary Hollywood is "raping" classic films by remaking them. I've often wondered if these folks would have accused Hammer of raping the Universal classics had they been alive in the late 50s and 60s.
Jason4eva, it's unlikely this deal will affect FRIDAY THE 13TH 2, as Warner has already greenlit the film and given it a release date. Just as Platinum Dunes put their F13 sequel on hold to produce the new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, this BUTCHERHOUSE CHRONICLES is just being developed at this point and undoubtedly won't go into production until F13 2 is wrapped.
What this may mean, though, is that the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise may be formally coming home to Paramount in the near future. If Part 2 is profitable, we can expect Platinum Dunes' new studio to want more of that sweet Crystal Lake green.
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