A week after producer Michael Bay ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake) announced [1] that his company Platinum Dunes would remake the 1979 horror hit "The Amityville Horror", Dimension Films announced they've bought the life rights of George Lutz, the author of the book detailing his family's encounter with supernatural elements within their Long Island home.

Along with the rights, Dimension received a completed first-draft script that revisits the house 25 years after Lutz and his family fled in terror. Dimension is already talking with an "unnamed but well established horror director", with an eye towards shooting a film for release in early summer 2004.

Neither side anticipates a lawsuit, as MGM owns the remake while the Amityville events are public domain. However, Dimension co-chair did allude to a "horse race" between the Dimension film and Michael Bay's remake. With both films in the running, summer audiences appear to be the winners.

Source: Variety [2]