Cinedigm has signed a 10-film deal with Lou Arkoff, Jeff Katz and Hal Sadoff to reinvent a series of American International Pictures (AIP) classics from the 1950s including The Brain Eaters and Girls In Prison.
The trio first introduced the AIP remake slate in Cannes 2013 and have earmarked a September start, planning to shoot all ten titles back-to-back.
Katz has written every screenplay and the stories will feed into an over-arching arc. Cast and directors are expected to be announced shortly.
Cinedigm will release the films theatrically and via DVD, digital, TV and non-theatrical formats. The films will also featured on Cinedigm’s nascent digital network CONtv.
The ten titles are: Girls In Prison; Viking Women & The Sea Serpent; The Brain Eaters; She-Creature; Teenage Caveman; Reform School Girl; The Undead; War Of The Colossal Beast; The Cool & The Crazy; and Day The World Ended.
“In a unique twist on the current film-making model, all ten films will shoot back-to-back and share a single movie universe with a big recurring cast of anti-heroes, monsters and bad girls,” said Arkoff, whose father Samuel founded AIP. “This format will allow our casts and directors to build a strong relationship with the characters – and our audience – over the course of several films.”
“There is no doubt that these titles have continuing allure,” said Cinedigm Entertainment Group president Bill Sondheim (pictured).
“It’s been a very exciting opportunity to experiment with this hybrid format – binge-viewing at the feature film level – and it’s something I think audiences are more than ready for,” said Katz.
“The timing is perfect to re-invent these classic AIP titles,” Sadoff said. “The independent film marketplace has never been stronger. Cinedigm is the perfect partner to take advantage of the traditional, as well as the new and exciting, distribution platforms for consumers to access content.”
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