EXCLUSIVE MEDIA’S HAMMER PRODUCTION LABEL ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO BLACKLIST SCREENPLAY ‘GASLIGHT’
HAMMER TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE THE HORROR FEATURE FILM
Iconic production company Hammer, an Exclusive Media company, has acquired the rights to GASLIGHT, an original screenplay written by newcomer Ian Fried, it was announced today by Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer, and Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairmen of Exclusive Media. Hammer will develop and produce GASLIGHT for the big screen.
The screenplay landed on Hollywood’s Blacklist of the best unproduced scripts in 2011 and is an atmospheric thriller in the vein of FROM HELL meets THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Secretly imprisoned in a London insane asylum, the infamous Jack the Ripper helps Scotland Yard investigators solve a series of grisly murders whose victims all share the iconic death brand: dual puncture wounds to the neck.
Tobin Armbrust, President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions of Exclusive Media, Hammer’s parent company, will oversee the project for Hammer.
Armbrust commented, “Ian’s script is an atmospheric thriller that reads like a Gothic SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He does a fantastic job of weaving iconic characters into a plausible and entertaining story.”
The project was brought to Exclusive Media, by the company’s Creative Executive, Jennifer Ruper.
Ian Fried is currently writing an original supernatural action project called SPECTRAL for Legendary Pictures. His previous script, THE EVER AFTER MURDERS, featuring fairy tale characters investigating murder scenes, also landed on Hollywood’s Black List in 2010.
Fried is repped by Daniel Cohan and Mike Esola at WME, Prolific Entertainment and attorney Eric Suddleson.
Hammer most recently produced the chilling ghost story THE WOMAN IN BLACK starring Daniel Radcliffe that opened this weekend in the US taking over $21m at the US box office.
Hammer’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s classic novel, starring Daniel Radcliffe, opened on almost 3000 screens through CBS Films with a per screen average of approximately $7,400, and also took the number one position in the Canadian box office.
This weekend’s three day gross makes The Woman in Black the highest opening ever for a Hammer film in the US and one of the very few British films that has broken the $20m opening weekend threshold.
Directed by James Watkins and adapted by Jane Goldman from the book by Susan Hill, THE WOMAN IN BLACK is a Hammer, Alliance Films, The UK Film Council presentation, in association with Cross Creek Pictures. A Talisman production in association with Exclusive Media, producers are Richard Jackson, Simon Oakes and Brian Oliver. Executive Producers are Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Tobin Armbrust, Marc Schipper, Neil Dunn, Xavier Marchand, Roy Lee and Tyler Thompson.
Exclusive Media is a major force in the production and international distribution arena. Other recent production titles include George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH produced by Smokehouse Pictures and co-produced by Exclusive Media with Cross Creek Pictures, the newly announced CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE? starring Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson, Ron Howard’s epic RUSH starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl and produced with production partners Cross Creek Pictures, Revolution Films, Imagine and Working Title; END OF WATCH starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera; SO UNDERCOVER starring Miley Cyrus; SNITCH starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon in post production; and BONESHAKER to be produced with Cross Creek Pictures.
Recent titles from Exclusive Media’s documentary film division, Spitfire Pictures, include the Academy Award Nominated UNDEFEATED set for release through The Weinstein Company on February 17th and Martin Scorsese’s award winning GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD produced by Martin Scorsese, Nigel Sinclair and Olivia Harrison.
ABOUT HAMMER
Originally founded in 1934, legendary British film studio Hammer has delivered a hugely successful run of films over the years including Dracula, Frankenstein Created Woman, One Million Years B.C. and The Vampire Lovers. Since 2008, the company has been part of Exclusive Media which is reinvigorating this beloved global brand through investment across both traditional and new media.
Not in production since the 1980s, Hammer marked their return to features in 2010 with the release of the critically acclaimed Let Me In, an adaptation of the highly praised Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in. The film was written and directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and stars Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road).
In 2011, Hammer released Antti Jokinen’s The Resident starring two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby), Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hammer legend Sir Christopher Lee, as well as the critically lauded Wake Wood directed by David Keating and starring Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle and Timothy Spall.
February 2012 sees the theatrical release of Hammer’s first ever feature ghost story The Woman in Black, directed by James Watkins, adapted by Jane Goldman from the book by Susan Hill, and starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Hammer recently launched a new publishing imprint through Random House which has already published eight books. In 2012 the imprint publishes its first original titles with “The Greatcoat” by Helen Dunmore, an original novel about the Pendle witches by Jeanette Winterson and “Coldbrook” by Tim Lebbon. Also publishing in 2012 are further new novelisations of classic Hammer films.
Hammer is also broadening its reach, with plans for a Hammer Theatre of Horror and a Hammer visitor attraction, as well as continuing to honour the company’s legacy with re-releases of classic films, official histories, merchandise, screenings and social media engagement.
For further information about Hammer and its parent company Exclusive Media, please visit www.hammerfilms.com and www.exclusivemedia.com
ABOUT EXCLUSIVE MEDIA
Exclusive Media is a vertically integrated global filmed entertainment company, founded in May 2008 with the backing of the strategic investment group Cyrte Investments. Exclusive Media develops, finances, produces, markets and distributes prestige and talent driven commercial and documentary feature films on a global basis.
Exclusive Media is run by a five member Executive Board with Nigel Sinclair as Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Guy East as Co-Chairman, Simon Oakes as Vice Chairman and President of Hammer, Marc Schipper as Chief Operating Officer, and Randy Hermann as Chief Financial Officer. Supporting the Executive Board in both the operational management and strategic expansion of the business is a strong team of highly skilled professionals who have a broad range of complementary experience.
Exclusive Media’s development and production activities operate through three specialist labels: UK based Hammer for genre titles, Spitfire Pictures for documentary features and the flagship label Exclusive Media for all other feature film production.
Exclusive Media’s international sales & distribution division maintains a strong marketing presence and represents the group’s in-house productions plus its growing library of over 550 titles, as well as actively acquiring third party feature films to further strengthen its international distribution slate.
For further information about the company, our slate of films, library and our experienced management team please visit www.exclusivemedia.com
