Amityville Horror Enterprises, which owns the rights and IP related to the Amityville Horror House, said in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing on Wednesday that the rights to films and TV shows ba’sed on America’s most haunted house should revert back to the company after The Weinstein Co. failed to meet certain requirements.
Hopefully Lantern Capital, TWC’s stalking horse bidder in bankruptcy, isn’t planning to produce a slew of movies based on the Amityville Horror House.
Amityville Enterprise is insisting that the rights should not be included in the TWC bankruptcy sale. Their argument hinges on the delayed production, and the deferred release of last year’s “Amityville: The Awakening.”
Under the terms of a 2011 options-purchase agreement, TWC was supposed to start production on another film based on the Amityville Horror House 45 months after principal photography for “Amityville: The Awakening” ended.
The filing claims that principal photography was completed on May 4, 2014 and that the 45-month window closed Feb. 9, 2018, before The Weinstein Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The rights were suppose to revert back to Amityville Enterprise, the court documents state.
In the filing, Amityville Enterprise’s lawyers say: “Through this action, Amityville Enterprises seeks a declaration that the conditions for the automatic reversion of rights under both the Barstu Agreement and the 2011 Agreement occurred and were satisfied before the filing of the Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy petition on March 19, 2018, such that the rights reverted to Amityville Enterprises prior to the petition date, and, accordingly, are not property that can be sold, assigned, or transferred by the Weinstein Company or its bankruptcy estate.”
Amityville Enterprise isn’t alone in trying to pry an asset from the TWC bankruptcy sale. Notably, the producers of Armie Hammer’s “Hotel Mumbai” said in April they nixed their deal with TWC before the company filed for bankruptcy, and therefore shouldn’t be included in the asset fire sale.
The next scheduled hearing is the bankruptcy auction on May 4.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.