Dutch producer John De Mol is reviving famed British horror studio Hammer Film Productions, which built its name on a string of films released in the 1950s and 1960s under the Hammer House of Horror label, reports Variety.
Private equity firm Cyrte Investments, led by de Mol, has acquired the rights to Hammer’s library, home of roughly 300 titles featuring the likes of Count Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy as well as the popular “Quatermass” franchise.
Reinvigorated Hammer studio –which hasn’t done any production to speak of since the mid-1980s — will be run by former Liberty Global executives Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper. Oakes played a leading role in brokering the deal.
“Hammer is a great British media brand that has lain dormant but lived on in people’s imaginations. It is more intelligent and character-driven than traditional American ‘goreography,’ and we intend to capitalize on this and make it a global brand,” Oakes said in a statement.
Guy East and Nigel Sinclair of L.A.-based Spitfire Pictures have joined the Hammer board and plan to produce two to three horror pics or thrillers a year for the U.K.-based studio.
The production house will pursue both film and television. It is said to already be in talks with a U.K. broadcaster about a Hammer Horror TV series.
