‘The Amityville Horror’. Photo: American International Pictures.
Preview:
‘Deadstream’ directors Joseph and Vanessa Winter are developing a new ‘Amityville’.
‘Barbarian’ producers BoulderLight are backing the movie.
There’s no studio attached yet.
The real-life story that spawned 1979’s ‘The Amityville Horror’ has been one of the most widely-adapted even in the horror genre, which is known for its generous servings of sequels and spin-offs.
Now, per Deadline, another set of filmmakers and producers is looking to put their own spin on it.
“For God’s sake, get out!”
Writer/directors Joseph and Vanessa Winter, who have seen success in the genre with found footage pic ‘Deadstream’ (which wowed the SXSW festival in 2022) are the people who will take a new crack on the story, unmoored from past continuity.
Related Article: Robert Rodriguez Producing Remake of His 1998 Thriller ‘The Faculty’
What’s the story of ‘Amityville’?
James Brolin in ‘The Amityville Horror’. Photo: American International Pictures.
The ‘Amityville’ story has its roots in Jay Ansen’s 1977 novel ‘The Amityville Horror’, which was partly used as inspiration for 1979’s eponymous movie.
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, it starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder, grossed more than $86 million against a modest budget and spawned a raft of follow-ups and reboots.
But stepping further back than that, there is a scary real-life history powering it all. That began in 1974, when Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and four siblings in their home at 112 Ocean in Amityville, New York.
A year or so after the horrific crime, George and Kathy Lutz, along with their three children, moved into the house, unaware of its dark past. And shortly after settling in, they claimed to experience a series of unsettling paranormal phenomena — among them, unexplained noises, cold spots, foul odors, and sightings of strange apparitions. After just 28 days, the family fled the house, unable to endure the alleged supernatural occurrences any longer.
Yet according to Deadline’s report, the Winters are not drawing directly on any of the past movies or even the historical story, choosing instead to bring a whole new take.
Clearly, the idea is good enough to have sparked the interest of BoulderLight, the production company that has partnered on the likes of Zach Cregger’s ‘Barbarian’, Drew Hancock’s ‘Companion’ and Anna Kendrick’s ‘Woman of the Hour’.
Most recently, the team backed the Tim Robinson/Paul Rudd offbeat comedy ‘Friendship’.
Also involved? Divide/Conquer, which was behind recent horrors such as ‘Heart Eyes’ and Prime Video’s ‘Totally Killer’.
So far, there’s no word on which studio might jump on the new ‘Amityville’ movie, but given that BoulderLight has a first-look deal with New Line, there’s a good chance it could well be interested.
When will ‘Amityville’ be on screens?
With the movie still in development, and no studio home decided, we’ll have to wait and see where it ends up.
(L to R) Margot Kidder, James Brolin in ‘The Amityville Horror’. Photo: American International Pictures.
In the aftermath of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial, the situation continues to be a major topic of discussion. Legal experts are still weighing in on the mixed verdict as well as what may lie ahead for the embattled music mogul. Some individuals who were actually present within the courtroom have also spoken out about their experiences since the proceedings ended, too. In addition to limited comments from Combs’ legal team and a few jurors, a journalist is now opening up about what it was like to be around the courtroom.
Diddy’s court case has been heavily covered by the press, of which many members were on the ground in New York during the trial. One such journalist who was present was Wesley Morris of The New York Times. Morris spoke with his colleague, John White, as part of their podcast, Cannonball, during which the former explained that he decided to sit in on the trial after a month of reading the reports. While discussing his experiences, Morris recalled having to get in line at the courthouse every morning and discussed the people he’d see:
You’re just always aware that there are people coming to just see what I was seeing with their own two eyes. Some of those people were real big Puffy people. They were there to support him. They think that this case is some BS and the government is out to get him. And they were, in a lot of cases, they didn’t have press badges, but they were TikToking, YouTubing, live streaming courtroom watchers, and particularly courtroom watchers of this case.
Kanye West, who’s been a vocal advocate for him. Combs’ kids also supported him by sending Father’s Day messages and by criticizing the reports that swirled around their father. Wesley Morris further recalled seeing some of Combs’ children in court quite frequently alongside other family members. Not only that, but Morris also described what it was like seeing the now-graying Combs in person:
being “like a movie” – opined that the defense “poked holes” in the prosecution’s arguments. A sitting juror was also asked if Combs’ fame played into the verdict, and the juror was insulted by that assumption.
As Wesley Morris and others discuss their time sitting in the courtroom, Diddy himself is still sitting behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The Grammy winner will remain there in the run-up to his sentencing, which is set to take place on October 3.
Miles Teller, Callum Turner, Elizabeth Olsen in Sweet ‘Eternity’ Trailer
by Alex Billington July 29, 2025 Source: YouTube
“A lot has happened in a week! You died! I died! I’ve just been reunited with both of my dead husbands. And I have to pick where to spend eternity?!” Yep, that sounds like quite the conundrum. A24 has unveiled the first official trailer for an afterlife romantic comedy called Eternity, made by filmmaker David Freyne. This will premiere at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival this fall before it hits theaters later in the year. In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend their eternity, Joan is faced with an impossible choice – deciding between the man she spent her life with (Larry), and her first love, a man who died young in a war and has waited decades for her to arrive there. Adorable. Starring Miles Teller, Callum Turner, and Elizabeth Olsen as the lovers trio. Along with John Early, Betty Buckley, and the delightful Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. I was expecting this film to be a more all-out fun comedy, but it is much more sweet and sentimental. And there’s some really nifty vintage afterlife visuals to enjoy. It’s lookin’ good.
Here’s the first official trailer (+ poster) for David Freyne’s film Eternity, direct from A24’s YouTube:
In the “afterlife” where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with (Miles Teller) and her first love (Callum Turner), who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.Eternity is directed by Irish writer / filmmaker David Freyne, director of the films The Cured and Dating Amber previously, plus many other short films. The screenplay is written by Patrick Cunnane and David Freyne. Produced by Tim White & Trevor White (King Richard, 8-Bit Christmas, Fair Play, No One Will Save You). The film is set to premiere at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival coming up this fall. A24 will then debut David Freyne’s Eternity comedy in select US theaters starting in November 2025 later this year. Look any good? Want to watch?
Everybody loves a crossover, right? At least the really good examples, if not the most bizarrely conceived ones. (I’m looking at you, Dancing with the Sharks.) Most of the time, obvious reasons exist for the characters to bounce around, usually tied to the shows existing in the same franchise. But sometimes such logistics aren’t necessary, and it just naturally makes abundant sense to bring two otherwise disparate shows together, such as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s 9-1-1 and Kaitlin Olson’s High Potential.
The latter dramedy is heading into its second season after taking over the viewership charts during its initial run. Olson is pulling triple-dipple duties, having also filmed for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 and Hacks Season 4, and it sounds like Hewitt would be beyond the moon to bring her 9-1-1 dispatcher into the world of Olson’s neurodivergent semi-genius Morgan later on during the 2025 TV schedule (or after, but nobody wants to wait that long).
AwardsBuzz, Hewitt looked downright delighted to bring up her HIgh Potential fandom in the same breath that she voiced her crossover wishes. Here’s how she put it:
traumas that went down in 9-1-1’s season finale, Maddie could probably use a pick-me-up in Season 9 in the form of a brilliant single mom with a sharp tongue. No telling what kind of hijinks they could get into solely relegated to Dispatch, but I’m sure they’d find ways to entertain.
Considering 9-1-1’s ninth season is currently filming, everyone at ABC should have their ears perked up and looking out for crossover suggestions the closer we get to the Ryan Murphy drama’s October 16 premiere date.
The past couple of weeks likely haven’t been the best for former Astronomer executives Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot (and their families), after their affair was outed on the big screen at a Coldplay concert. For the general public, however, the situation has been an endless source of entertainment, with even Gwyneth Paltrow getting involved. So how did Chris Martin’s ex-wife end up teaming with Astronomer for an ad poking fun at that wild Kiss Cam moment?
A little over a week after the Coldplay Kiss Cam footage began circulating — which showed CEO Andy Byron ducking out of view of the camera as Kristin Cabot turned and ran away after they were caught cuddling — Astronomer addressed the viral moment in a pretty hilarious way. They hired Gwyneth Paltrow on a “very temporary basis” to answer the public’s most common questions. Check it out for yourself below:
Thank you for your interest in Astronomer – YouTube
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People:
It came together very quickly. The company reached out to her. Gwyneth has a really great sense of humor and it felt funny enough for her to do. It happened quickly.
So apparently the company came up with the idea and just called up the Goop founder. She liked the tone they were going for, so it all apparently came together pretty quickly.
Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot have both resigned from their positions at Astronomer following the viral moment, which has been dissected, recreated and mocked on every platform from big screens at other concerts and sporting events to social media videos. It has even become part of the marketing plan for the upcoming horror movie Together (hitting the 2025 movie calendar on July 30).
Chris Martin hasn’t said too much about the incident, but during another Coldplay show in the days that followed, he made sure to give the audience plenty of warning that they were about to “use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen.”
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Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin got married in 2003 and had two children before their “conscious uncoupling” in 2014. Their divorce was finalized in 2016. To this day they remain close, with Paltrow penning a sweet birthday tribute to the Coldplay singer earlier this year, but I’d be very interested to hear what Martin thinks about Paltrow teaming up with Astronomer.
Starz’s world of 18th century Scotland will soon return with the premiere of Outlander: Blood of My Blood in the 2025 TV schedule. While at least some of the action will be set in the 20th century with Claire’s parents, a time travel twist will bring them back in time to encounter Jamie’s family members in their own time. Fans of the early seasons of Outlander may remember that scenes set in 18th century Scotland can mean a whole lot of warriors wearing kilts, and Blood of My Blood viewers can expect more of the same in the prequel.
When I spoke with cast members of the upcoming series, they weighed in on the perks of the garment, and reminded me of one thing Sam Heughan didn’t like about filming the original series in the kilt.
(Image credit: Starz)
What Sam Heughan Said About Filming In A Kilt
why he’d missed wearing it after story reasons meant the Scots couldn’t wear their traditional tartan for a time. Co-star Duncan LaCroix (who played the original Murtagh) echoed the sentiment, saying it was “incredibly comfortable to wear and quite very practical” for battle scenes. That said, Heughan did once share one very specific way that wearing a kilt could be horrible for filming Outlander, telling People:
travel series called Men in Kilts alongside former Outlander co-star Graham McTavish! And that brings me to what the Blood of My Blood actors told me ahead of the upcoming premiere of their prequel series.
(Image credit: Starz / Starz / Starz)
What The Blood Of My Blood Cast Told Me About Kilts
I was fortunate enough to speak with the stars of Outlander: Blood of My Blood during San Diego Comic-Con, with Hermione Corfield even sharing how paparazzi almost spoiled the series’ big time travel twist. Three of the actors who will be playing 18th century Highlanders had plenty to say about wearing kilts, and it turns out that they could relate to what Sam Heughan and Duncan LaCroix said years earlier. Sam Retford, who plays the young Dougal MacKenzie, shared:
It’s an extremely practical piece of clothing, especially when you’re running around and rolling around. You can hide things in it. You can hide yourself in it. You can sleep in it. It’s fantastic.
Those perks certainly can’t be said about most items of clothing nowadays! (I for one count myself lucky if I can find a dress with pockets.) Rory Alexander, who plays the younger version of Outlander’s fan favorite, picked up where Retford left off:
Extremely multi-use. When you see us with the kilt and the plaid with the full thing, that all used to be one piece of cloth, and you could use it as a blanket and a pillow and a bag. So it’s a fantastic piece of clothing.
The kilt having plenty of fantastic uses doesn’t mean that the garment was easy for the actors to master right off the bat, as Sam Retford went on to admit. Even now that the cast is in the midst of filming Season 2 thanks to the very early renewal, he isn’t yet an expert at donning the tartan. He shared:
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It’s an odd thing starting the day. I still can’t put my kilt on on my own, so you have to lie down on the floor of a trailer. You get wrapped up like a burrito every day, like a baby being swaddled, and then you have to go and pretend to be an adult while at work after that, which is tricky.
The situation is a bit different for Seamus McClean Ross, who plays the young version of Colum MacKenzie. The Outlander version of the character, played by Gary Lewis, had a shorter tenure as part of the cast than either Dougal or Murtagh, but Outlander also guarantees that Colum can stick around just as long as any of the others.
That said, Ross alluded to the condition that often kept Colum off his feet on the original series when he explained the younger version’s wardrobe choices, saying:
My character, he wears a kilt in the early parts of the show, but he kind of purposely chooses not to, to kind of be seen as a more kind of political figure. The kilt is a kind of more like a fighting man’s attire. Colum is forced to be behind the scenes, kind of conducting things politically.
These three won’t be the only ones wearing tartan in the new show with what seems to be the majority of the scenes set in the 18th century. That of course depends on when the time travel twist that brings Julia a couple hundred years back in time takes place, but the trailer offers some clues. Take a look:
Outlander: Blood of my Blood | Official Trailer | STARZ – YouTube
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Outlander: Blood of My Blood arrives on Starz with two back-to-back episodes on Friday, August 8 starting at 8 p.m. ET. With the first footage of Outlander Season 8 also confirming that the original series won’t be back with its final season until 2026, Blood of My Blood can still take viewers back to the world of Claire and Jamie… just a generation earlier than the original.
