MGM & Dimension Come Together For "Amityville", "The Believers"

MGM and Dimension films spared themselves a race to mount a remake of "The Amityville Horror" by pacting to partner on a single film. The two will also co-produce "True Believers," the MGM-developed film that will mark the Hollywood directing debut of Hideo Nakata.

The "Amityville Horror" deal makes sense for both studios. MGM owned rights to the title of the 1979 horror hit. After Platinum Dunes scored a hit on its first project, a redo of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," MGM moved quickly to bestow the title on the production shingle headed by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form.

MGM & Dimension are also partnering on "True Believers," to be directed by Hideo Nakata ("Ringu"). The movie is an adaptation of the Doug Richardson novel about the intersecting paths of a senator with White House aspirations and a woman who wants to have a child with a death- row inmate who claims to be a messiah.

It's the first film Nakata will direct in Hollywood, but he has been preceded by a whole slew of remakes of his best Asian horror films. DreamWorks scored a hit with "The Ring," a redo of his "Ringu." A remake of Nakata's "Chaos" is being developed by Universal, Tribeca and producer Laura Bickford as a directing vehicle for "Sexy Beast" helmer Jonathan Glazer, with Benicio Del Toro expected to star with Robert De Niro. Walter Salles just agreed to direct a redo of Nakata's "Dark Water," to star Jennifer Connelly.

Source: Variety