Open Road Films, in partnership with Endgame Entertainment, has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to A Haunted House, co-written by and starring Marlon Wayans, from IM Global. The film was financed and produced by IM Global’s genre label Octane. The announcement was made today by Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films, James D. Stern, CEO of Endgame Entertainment and Stuart Ford, CEO of IM Global.
In the Wayans family tradition of successful movies like Scary Movie 1 & 2, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, and, most recently, Dance Flick, Marlon Wayans co-wrote the script for A Haunted House, along with Rick Alvarez, who has produced several Wayans family movies. Marlon Wayans’ co-writing and acting credits include: Dance Flick, White Chicks, Little Man, Scary Movie 1 and 2; his acting credits also include G.I. Joe: Rise of The Cobra, Requiem for a Dream and the recently wrapped The Heat with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, directed by Paul Feig.
Open Road Films will release A Haunted House which stars Marlon Wayans, Cedric The Entertainer and Essence Atkins (TBS’s “Are We There Yet?”) nationwide on January 11, 2013. Directed by Michael Tiddes, A Haunted House is produced by Rick Alvarez and Marlon Wayans. Executive producers are Stuart Ford, Deepak Nayar, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Steve Squillante and LisaBlum. A Haunted House also stars David Koechner and Nick Swardson.
In an outrageous send up of the “Paranormal Activity” movies, The Devil Inside and other “found footage” movies, A Haunted House features young couple Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) who have just moved in to their dream house. As they settle in, they quickly find they’re not alone. But it’s not the house that’s haunted, it’s Malcolm’s girlfriend who is possessed by a demon. Malcolm hires everyone from a priest to modern day ghostbusters to rid her of this unwelcome intruder, determined not to let the evil spirit ruin his relationship… or, more importantly, his sex life.
“If you are looking to laugh uncontrollably, this movie will do it to you,” stated Ortenberg. “This will be our second project with Jim Stern and the great people at Endgame and with them, IM Global, and, of course Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez, we have a team we are very excited about.”
Stern stated, “We are delighted to be partnering with Open Road and IM Global on this fun romp. It is a perfect vehicle for our P&A fund and we are pleased to support the filmmakers in bringing this film to market.”
Ford stated, “Marlon and the gang have made a riotously funny film and I’m really confident that Open Road is going to blow this out in a big way.”
Wayans stated, “I’m really happy to be working with Tom Ortenberg and Open Road. They are an exciting new company who, along with Jim Stern and Endgame, have shown tremendous enthusiasm for our movie.”
“Marlon and I had an incredible experience making the movie with our partners at IM Global and feel very fortunate to have Open Road and Endgame on board to release it on January 11th,” stated Alvarez.
(Photo Credit: FayesVision/WENN.com)
