Dark Castle Entertainment

Last updated
Dark Castle Entertainment
Company typePrivate
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1998;26 years ago (1998)
Headquarters
Key people
Hal Sadoff, Norman Golightly, Douglas McClure
ProductsMotion Pictures, television
Parent OEG Inc.
Website https://darkcastle.com

Dark Castle Entertainment is a film, TV, and digital projects production label. [2] It is owned by North American sports and entertainment company, OEG Inc. [3] The firm is led by co-CEOs Hal Sadoff [4] and Norman Golightly. [5]

Contents

The majority of Dark Castle films from the late 1990’s to mid 2010’s were distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. [6] The company’s later films have also been distributed by Paramount Pictures [7] and Shudder/AMC. [4]

History

1998 — 2003: Homage to William Castle, the early years

Dark Castle was founded in 1998 [8] by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler. [9] The Dark Castle name pays homage to William Castle, a 1950’s horror filmmaker from the 1950s and 1960s. [6] When first formed, the goal of the company was to remake Castle’s horror films. After two remakes, House on Haunted Hill [10] and Thirteen Ghosts, [11] they moved on to producing original material, [12] along with remakes of non-Castle films. [13]

2003 — 2013: More horror, action

Gothika, starring Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr., was Dark Castle’s first original film in 2003. [12] They followed it up with House of Wax, the company’s first remake of a non-Castle film. [9] [14]

In 2008, the company moved beyond the horror genre to produce the action film RocknRolla. [15]

Dark Castle released Orphan, a psychological horror film, in 2009. [16] The film grossed $80 million on a $20 million budget. [17] The company produced its first martial arts film, Ninja Assassin, later that year. [18]

In 2010, they produced action film adaptions of The Losers based on the DC Vertigo comic of the same name, [19] and Unknown starring Liam Neeson, which grossed $136 million against its $30 million budget. [20]

After a long relationship with Warner Bros. Pictures as their main distributor, [6] Dark Castle began working with other distributors including Paramount Pictures [7] and Shudder/AMC. [4]

2015—Present: New ownership and commercial success

Dark Castle was acquired by Daryl Katz of OEG Inc. in 2015. [2] [3] Hal Sadoff was named CEO. [2]

The company released its first film under OEG the following year, neo noir comedy crime movie The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. [21]

Next, Dark Castle produced black comedy crime film Suburbicon written by the Coen Brothers, directed by George Clooney, starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore. [22] [23]

In 2018, Dark Castle produced Superfly, [24] a remake of the 1972 film Super Fly. [25]

Dark Castle continued to produce horror films, including Seance, starring Suki Waterhouse, [26] and the prequel to Orphan, Orphan: First Kill, starring Isabelle Fuhrman from the original Orphan movie. [27] In 2020, the company began producing television with the sci-fi horror series The Expecting. [28]

In 2019, Dark Castle produced Last Breath, which is based on the documentary Last Breath and stars Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu. [29]

In 2023, the company filmed Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, [30] and financed the film Shell, starring Elizabeth Moss and Kate Hudson, directed by Max Minghella. [31]

Filmography

Release dateFilmDirector(s)Distributor
June 10, 1989 Tales from the Crypt HBO [32]
October 29, 1999 House on Haunted Hill William Malone Warner Bros. Pictures [10]
October 26, 2001 Thirteen Ghosts Steve Beck [11]
October 25, 2002 Ghost Ship Steve Beck [33]
November 21, 2003 Gothika Mathieu Kassovitz [34]
May 6, 2005 House of Wax Jaume Collet-Serra [35]
April 5, 2007 The Reaping Stephen Hopkins [36]
October 16, 2007 Return to House on Haunted Hill Víctor Garcia Warner Premiere [37]
May 13, 2008 Botched Kit Ryan Warner Bros. Home Entertainment [38]
October 8, 2008 RocknRolla Guy Ritchie Warner Bros. Pictures [39]
February 27, 2009 Echelon Conspiracy Greg Marcks After Dark Films [40]
July 24, 2009 Orphan Jaume Collet-Serra Warner Bros. Pictures [16]
September 11, 2009 Whiteout Dominic Sena [41]
September 29, 2009 The Hills Run Red Dave Parker Warner Premiere [42]
November 25, 2009 Ninja Assassin James McTeigue Warner Bros. Pictures [18]
April 23, 2010 The Losers Sylvain White [19]
June 4, 2010 Splice Vincenzo Natali [43]
February 18, 2011 Unknown Jaume Collet-Serra [44]
August 24, 2012 The Apparition Todd Lincoln [45]
February 1, 2013 Bullet to the Head Walter Hill [46]
February 19, 2013 The Factory Morgan O'Neill [47]
August 30, 2013 Getaway Courtney Solomon [48]
May 11, 2016 The Nice Guys Shane Black Warner Bros. Pictures [49]


October 27, 2017 Suburbicon George Clooney Paramount Pictures [23]
June 13, 2018 Superfly Director X Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group [50]
October 5, 2020The Expecting Mary Harron Quibi [51]
May 21, 2021 Seance Simon Barrett RLJE Films [52]
August 19, 2022 Orphan: First Kill William Brent Bell Paramount Pictures [53]
September 2024 Old Guy Simon West The Avenue [30]
TBD Last Breath (upcoming film) Alex Parkinson [54] TBD
TBD Shell (upcoming film) Max Minghella [55] TBD

Lifetime grosses

YearFilmBudgetDomestic Box OfficeForeign Box OfficeTotalUS DVD salesTotal (with DVD sales)
1999House on Haunted Hill$37 million$40.8 million [56] $3.5 million (A)$44.4 millionN/AN/A
2001Thirteen Ghosts$42 million$41.7 million [57] $26.6 million [58] $68.5 millionN/AN/A
2002Ghost Ship$20 million$30.1 million [59] $38.2 million [59] $68.3 millionN/AN/A
2003Gothika$40 million$59.7 million [60] $81.7 million [60] $141.6 millionN/AN/A
2005House of Wax$40 million$32.1 million [61] $36.7 million [61] $68.8 millionN/AN/A
2007The Reaping$40 million$25.1 million [62] $37.6 million [62] $62.8 million$19.8 million [63] $82.6 million
2008RocknRolla$15 million$5.7 million [64] $20 million$25.7 million$7.4 million [65] $33.1 million
2009Orphan$20 million$41,596,251 [66] $36,741,122 [66] $78,337,373$12,250,443 [66] $90,587,816
2009Whiteout$35 million$10,275,638 [67] $7,565,229 [67] $17,840,867$3,192,934 [68] $21,033,801
2009Ninja Assassin$50 million$38,122,883 [69] $23,471,000$61,593,883$13,841,623 [70] $75,435,506
2010The Losers$25 million$23,591,432 [71] $5,385,903$28,977,335$6,462,496 [72] $35,439,831
2010Splice$30 million$17,010,170 [73] $6,964,022$23,974,192$3,695,686$27,669,878
BudgetOverall TotalUS DVD SalesTotal
$374 million$646 million$62.9 million$708 million

(A) Indicates minimum, as that is only two countries totals merged.

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