ROB ZOMBIE To Make 'Halloween' Movie After All - June 4, 2006

Bloody-Disgusting.com has published the following press release from Dimension Films:

Dimension Films is proud to announce that they will make a new "Halloween" movie with Rob Zombie ("The Devil's Rejects", "House of 1000 Corpses" writing, directing and serving as a producer. Malek Akkad of Trancas International Films ("Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" will produce the feature along with Andy Gould of Vision Entertainment Group ("The Devil's Rejects", "House of 1000 Corpses"). Zombie will also serve as music supervisor on the film. Miramax Films will co-finance the development with Dimension Films. The announcement was made today by The Weinstein Company co-chairman Bob Weinstein.

Zombie's vision of this film is an entirely new take on the legend and will satisfy fans of the classic "Halloween" legacy while beginning a new chapter in the Michael Myers saga. This new movie will not only appeal to horror fans, but to a wider movie-going audience as well. It will not be a copycat of any prior films in the "Halloween" franchise. The film is set for an October 2007 theatrical release.

Bob Weinstein stated, "Rob Zombie is a gifted musician and performer as well as a talented filmmaker. His vision for this new 'Halloween' is spectacular and I am thrilled to be collaborating with him and to work closely with Malek Akkad to continue the legacy built by his father, the late Moustapha Akkad."

Zombie said, "I have been a huge, huge fan of John Carpenter's original film since its release. So when Bob Weinstein approached me about this, I jumped at the chance to join forces with Dimension Films on this amazing project."

The "Halloween" story began with the 1978 release of "John Carpenter's Halloween", executive produced by the late Moustapha Akkad, founder of Trancas International Films and became the highest-grossing independent film of the time. Moustapha Akkad's son, Malek, is now taking some of the reigns on this new "Halloween" project to continue the outstanding work begun by his father. Malek Akkad stated, "Trancas is very excited to be working with Rob Zombie and producing another 'Halloween' with Bob Weinstein and Dimension, the home of the franchise for the last three installments. It will be a fitting and worthy tribute to my late father."

"I am thrilled to be working again with Rob and with Dimension Films on such an iconic project that will reinvigorate 'Halloween' and Michael Myers in a truly terrifying new way," stated Andy Gould, Rob Zombie's longtime manager and producer of Zombie's two previous films.

Richard Saperstein, president of production, Matthew Stein, senior vice president of production and Alex Franklin, director of development and production will oversee the project on behalf of Dimension. Bret McCartney of Trancas International will oversee production on behalf of Trancas.

Andrew Kramer, executive vice president of business and legal affairs, and Lumumba Mosquera, senior vice president of business and legal affairs, negotiated on behalf of Dimension Films. Attorneys David Fox and Jeffrey Light of Myman Abell Fineman Greenspan & Light negotiated on behalf of Rob Zombie. Attorney Wayne Kazan of Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman & Silverman negotiated on behalf of Akkad. Rob Zombie is represented by Paradigm.

About Rob Zombie:

An auteur filmmaker and music artist with shrewd insight and creative vision, Rob Zombie challenges audiences as he stretches the boundaries of film, music and publishing.

Zombie is the longest active artist on Geffen Records and has sold in excess of fifteen million records. He is currently on a sold-out nationwide tour for his latest gold-selling album, "Educated Horses", which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200.

In 2000, Zombie jumped from music to film with his directorial debut and cult smash hit "House of 1000 Corpses". Due to the film success Zombie returned in 2004 to helm its follow up the critically acclaimed, "The Devil's Rejects". Zombie was hailed by critics and fans alike as a visionary filmmaker due to the film's uncompromising and wildly inventive exploitive throw-back style.

Prior to "House of 1000 Corpses", Zombie directed dozens of high-profile music videos. In 1995 Zombie won an MTV Music Video Award for "More Human Than Human", becoming the first self-directed artist to win such an award.

After the success of "The Devil's Rejects", Zombie entered the world of animation with "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" a feature-length film in production at IDT.

About Malek Akkad:

Malek Akkad is a twenty-year veteran of the entertainment industry. Under his guidance, Trancas International Films, has evolved into a diverse entertainment company, involved in production, distribution, management, music publishing and merchandising.

Akkad has produced the last three installments of the successful "Halloween" franchise, distributed by Dimension Films, and is currently producing "Halloween 9". Some other producing credits include "Walking After Midnight", "The Psychic Murders", the recently completed "Made In Brooklyn", and the documentary "Halloween: 25 Years of Terror".

As a director, Akkad has numerous commercials and music videos to his credit, including clients such as Coca Cola, and artists like Lo-Ball, Simon Shaheen & Kazem. He also directed the feature film "The Psychic Murders", starring James Russo, Henry Rollins, and Terry Farrell. He is currently developing "The Princess of Alhambra", a sweeping historical epic set in medieval Spain, based on a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Bolt.

Akkad's company, Trancas, also manages a vibrant film library, including titles such as "Halloween", "Halloween 4", "Halloween 5", "Hell Night", and "Lion of the Desert". It also runs a merchandising department, and the music publishing company, Jack-O-Lantern Music. Trancas has recently opened television and management divisions, with several projects in development, and a roster of recognizable talent.

Tring Entertainments is Akkad's overseas affiliate, handling Trancas' library internationally, with offices in Twickenham Film Studios, home to such legendary productions such as "Reds", "Gandhi", "Blade Runner", "Donnie Brasco", "Interview with a Vampire" and "Superman" II & III, to name a few.

Akkad's newly formed Paranormal Pictures, in association with Jon Sheinberg's The Machine, has recently completed production of the mob comedy "Made In Brooklyn". The company has also produced the upcoming release from Anchor Bay Entertainment, "Halloween: 25 Years of Terror".

This is great news, but please for the love of god don't tell me you are referring to the house of 1000 corpses as a solid horror film...

You better believe it. I've defended it here on several occasions, and will do so again. It's not the modern classic that Devil's Rejects is, but I still love the movie and could watch it anytime.

Fair enough. that movie completely lost me with the whole friggin underground, devil shit at the end.

Rob Zombie writes on his official blog:
"Okay here's the real deal for those of you who are confused. As I said yesterday - I am not making Halloween 9. That series is done, complete, over.

But what I am doing is starting totally from from scratch. This the new HALLOWEEN. Call it a remake, an update, a reimagining or whatever, but one thing that for sure is this is a whole new start... a new begining with no connection to the other series. That is exactly why the project appeals to me. I can take it and run with it.

I talked to John Carpenter about this the other day and he said, "Go for it, Rob. Make it your own". And that's exactly what I intend to do.

Any questions? Go ahead and ask'em."
----------------------------------------

Now here's some more news from Variety:

"This is a bit of a prequel and a remake, combine," Zombie tells Variety.

"Over 25 years and a lot of movies, a very scary character became something of a Halloween cliche, with Michael Myers dolls that play the Halloween music when you press their stomachs. By the end of the sequel cycle, there was little connection to the original. I take that film very seriously, and I want to make it terrifying again."

Before signing on, Zombie said he sought out Carpenter, who has had several of his films remade.

"The original 'Halloween' is hallowed ground to me, and I talked to him about it and he was very supportive of what I wanted to do," Zombie said.

Watch for more news as it comes in...

Bryan Grob of the High Plains Reader recently conducted an interview with Rob Zombie. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

High Plains Reader: The big news is that you will be directing the new "Halloween" movie. Will you be adding the grit of the original "Halloween" back into the project?

Rob Zombie: "When the project came to me about six months ago, I didn't know if I wanted to do it. There are a lot of remakes and retellings, some are good, some are bad, it's no big crime either way, but I wouldn't tackle it unless I thought there was a way and I genuinely thought there was a reason to do it. I think the core story in the first film is great and there is a way to redo things and make it scary again. I do feel over the last however many years all the sequels have really sucked the life out of that character and ruined it. Kind of like what I feel about 'Frankenstein' the original film, brilliant, 'Bride of Frankenstein', brilliant, 'Son of Frankenstein', a little bit creakier, by the time you get to 'Abbot and Costello meets Frankenstein', Frankenstein's pretty much screwed as a character until Hammer Studios came and dusted it off."

High Plains Reader: Is the new album ["Educated Horses"] the mature version of Rob Zombie?

Rob Zombie: "I never really thought of it that way. I just thought of it like it was phase three. WHITE ZOMBIE was one, everything I did after that was two, and this is a new beginning. That's why in a sense I wanted to strip it all back down so that I could build it back up in a fresh, exciting way. People always keep trying to do the same thing, looking the same, acting the same because that's what the fans want. KISS is a good example towards the end people were sick of them with the makeup. Then when they took it off for a few years people were just dying to have it back. You want to be an active, creative person moving forward and not turn it into a Broadway show where there's no life or spontaneity left."

High Plains Reader: What happened with your record label, Zombie a Go-Go?

Rob Zombie: "I got frustrated with the whole thing. That was 100 percent a labor of love. I was pumping tons of money into it, tons of time and it was just becoming too flighty with the bands. They would go play some shows, come back and go, 'We broke up.' You can deal with your own band's bullshit, but when you start dealing with other bands' bullshit, it's like, 'I don't have time for this.' I just couldn't see myself expelling that much energy on bands that are going to break up because somebody's pissed off. I take projects seriously and when I put that much time into a project I want it to work and not be on the whim of somebody else."

does anyone else kinda get turned on by the blonde chick in the the other zombie movies?

does anyone else kinda get turned on by the blonde chick in the the other zombie movies?

Sherri Moon? Fuck yeah. I'd bang her like a broken screen door.

I can't believe all the backlash against this movie before it's even out. Granted, I hate the remake craze and would just as soon see it die, but is this any worse than the ones they've done already? Once Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw were remade that was it for me. I don't think Halloween is more sacred than those films, and it least it has Rob Zombie helming it, which is interesting. I still don't really understand why the dude did it, but he's got a lot to lose if this sucks so maybe he'll pull it off.