Beverly Hills, CA, June 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- The Wonderfilm Media Corporation (TSXV: WNDR) (OTC: WDRFF) ("Wonderfilm" or the "Company") announced today the horror film “Amityville 1974” will begin principal photography in November of this year for release in October 2020. Wonderfilm is fully financing the picture.
The film is based on the real life tragedy that spawned THE AMITYVILLE HORROR novel and subsequent films in which Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot all six members of his family on a fateful November night. This tragedy was seared into the minds of the public consciousness by writer Jay Anson's book “The Amityville Horror” that recounted the terror experienced by a family moving into the house, only to be driven out 28 days later by hostile supernatural forces. Wonderfilm’s Amityville 1974 will tell the story of the DeFeo’s horrifying murderous rampage.
Casey La Scala (Donnie Darko, The Remaining) will direct from a script he wrote. Jeff Bowler and Shaun Redick (Get Out/ Blackkklansman) will produce for Wonderfilm. Todd Garner (Tag/Mortal Kombat) will also produce. Kirk Shaw, Bret Saxon, Yvette Yates, and Dan Grodnik will be Executive Producers. Wonderfilm’s new sister distribution company, Wonderfilm Global headed by Christian De Gallegos, is handling worldwide sales at TIFF, while currently negotiating with domestic theatrical distributors.
Adjusted for inflation the original Amityville Horror took in over $300 million, with 2005's remake topping $95 million. With a strong horror franchise like this, our release strategy will mimic Halloween 2018 success, which garnered $160 million from US theatrical sales and a further $96 million from foreign distribution. Very similar in genre with an equally large fan base waiting to be frightened, Wonderfilm will add its wider social media strength to the Halloween 2018 release strategy. “Looking to next year, Amityville 1974 is expected to drive a lot of the Company's 2020 revenue," said Kirk Shaw, Wonderfilm CEO.
“We are beyond thrilled to introduce Amityville 1974. Casey has a truly unique and terrifying vision for the fright franchise and audiences will experience horror like never before with this film,” said Jeff Bowler, founding partner of Wonderfilm Media.
“This is a story that takes its jumping off point from the true facts surrounding the DeFeo tragedy, but also focuses on the human drama that took place inside a family as they were relentlessly stalked by a terrifying evil,” said Casey La Scala
La Scala adapted and will produce the inspirational book “Fly a Little Higher” for Warner Brothers Studios which goes into production this year with Justin Baldoni (Five Feet Apart) directing. La Scala is repped by Paradigm and Ziffren, Brittenham.
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About Wonderfilm Media
Wonderfilm is a leading publicly traded (TSX Venture Exchange) entertainment company with offices in Beverly Hills, United States and Vancouver, Canada. Wonderfilm’s main business is the production of high-quality feature films and episodic television that offer international appeal through the Company’s guiding philosophy of bringing new financing solutions to an entertainment industry increasingly looking for funding and co-production alternatives. Wonderfilm is a producer and distributor only for the projects disclosed. The legal ownership of movie productions is held in a special purpose legal entity held at arm’s length to the Company to facilitate for the qualification of various levels of domestic and foreign government tax credit incentives that are customary in the film and production business.
Cautionary Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to substantial risks,uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in thispress release are forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as “believe,”“expect,” “target,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “intend,” “plan,” “projects,” “seek,” “will,” “may” or similarexpressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many ofwhich involve factors or circumstances that are beyond Wonderfilm’s control and Wonderfilm’s actualresults could well differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due tomany various factors.
Although Wonderfilm believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee that the events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. The timing of events and circumstances and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, one should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All such reflect the date made only.
Wonderfilm undertakes no obligation to update or publicly revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For further details, please see the Company’s documents filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com.
For further information:
Media contact:
Lon Haber | +1-323-620-1675 | lon@lonhaber.com
Sales contact:
Christian De Gallegos | Christian@wonderfilms.com