# Dark Castle Entertainment

Dark Castle Entertainment is a film production label of OEG Inc. It was founded in 1998 originally as a film production company by producers Joel Silver & Gilbert Adler and filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, with most of its productions centered on horror films, the majority of which were distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

## History
### 1998—2003: Homage to William Castle, the early years

Dark Castle was founded in 1998 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler. The Dark Castle name pays homage to William Castle, a horror filmmaker from the 1950s and 1960s. When first formed, the goal of the company was to remake Castle's horror films. After two remakes, House on Haunted Hill and Thirteen Ghosts, they moved on to producing original material, along with remakes of non-Castle films.

### 2003—2013: More horror, action

Gothika, starring Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr., was Dark Castle's first original film in 2003. They followed it up with House of Wax, the company's first remake of a non-Castle film.
In 2008, the company moved beyond the horror genre to produce the action film RocknRolla.
In 2009, Dark Castle released the psychological horror film Orphan. The film grossed $80 million on a $20 million budget. Later that year, the company produced its first martial arts film, Ninja Assassin.
In 2010, they produced action film adaptions of The Losers based on the DC Vertigo comic of the same name, and Unknown starring Liam Neeson, which grossed $136 million against its $30 million budget.
After a long relationship with Warner Bros. Pictures as their main distributor, Dark Castle began working with other distributors including Paramount Pictures and Shudder/AMC.

### 2015—Present: New ownership and commercial success

Dark Castle was acquired by Daryl Katz of OEG Inc. in 2015. Hal Sadoff was named CEO.
The company released its first film under OEG the following year, neo noir comedy crime movie The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
Next, Dark Castle produced black comedy crime film Suburbicon directed by George Clooney, written by the Coen Brothers, and starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore.
In 2018, Dark Castle produced Superfly, a remake of the 1972 film Super Fly.
Dark Castle continued to produce horror films, including Seance, starring Suki Waterhouse, and the prequel to Orphan, Orphan: First Kill, starring Isabelle Fuhrman from the original movie. In 2020, the company began producing television with the sci-fi horror series The Expecting.
In 2023, the company filmed Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, and financed the films Shell, starring Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson, and directed by Max Minghella, and Last Breath, which is based on the documentary Last Breath and stars Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu.

## Filmography

| Release date | Film | Director(s) | Distributor |
| October 29, 1999 | House on Haunted Hill | William Malone | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| October 26, 2001 | Thirteen Ghosts | Steve Beck | Warner Bros. Pictures/Sony Pictures |
| October 25, 2002 | Ghost Ship | Steve Beck | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| November 21, 2003 | Gothika | Mathieu Kassovitz | Warner Bros. Pictures/Sony Pictures |
| May 6, 2005 | House of Wax | Jaume Collet-Serra | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| April 5, 2007 | The Reaping | Stephen Hopkins | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| October 16, 2007 | Return to House on Haunted Hill | Víctor Garcia | Warner Premiere |
| October 8, 2008 | RocknRolla | Guy Ritchie | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| February 27, 2009 | Echelon Conspiracy | Greg Marcks | After Dark Films |
| July 24, 2009 | Orphan | Jaume Collet-Serra | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| September 11, 2009 | Whiteout | Dominic Sena | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| September 29, 2009 | The Hills Run Red | Dave Parker | Warner Premiere |
| November 25, 2009 | Ninja Assassin | James McTeigue | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| April 23, 2010 | The Losers | Sylvain White | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| June 4, 2010 | Splice | Vincenzo Natali | Gaumont/Warner Bros. Pictures |
| February 18, 2011 | Unknown | Jaume Collet-Serra | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| August 24, 2012 | The Apparition | Todd Lincoln | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| February 1, 2013 | Bullet to the Head | Walter Hill | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| February 19, 2013 | The Factory | Morgan O'Neill | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| August 30, 2013 | Getaway | Courtney Solomon | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| October 27, 2017 | Suburbicon | George Clooney | Paramount Pictures |
| October 5, 2020 | The Expecting | Mary Harron | Quibi |
| May 21, 2021 | Seance | Simon Barrett | RLJE Films |
| August 19, 2022 | Orphan: First Kill | William Brent Bell | Paramount Pictures |
| September 12, 2024 | Shell | Max Minghella | TBD |
| October 17, 2024 | Old Guy | Simon West | The Avenue |
| February 28, 2025 | Last Breath | Alex Parkinson | Focus Features |

## Lifetime grosses

| Year | Film | Budget | Domestic Box Office | Foreign Box Office | Total | US DVD sales | Total (with DVD sales) |
| 1999 | House on Haunted Hill | $37 million | $40.8 million | $3.5 million (A) | $44.4 million | N/A | N/A |
| 2001 | Thirteen Ghosts | $42 million | $41.7 million | $26.6 million | $68.5 million | N/A | N/A |
| 2002 | Ghost Ship | $20 million | $30.1 million | $38.2 million | $68.3 million | N/A | N/A |
| 2003 | Gothika | $40 million | $59.7 million | $81.7 million | $141.6 million | N/A | N/A |
| 2005 | House of Wax | $40 million | $32.1 million | $36.7 million | $68.8 million | N/A | N/A |
| 2007 | The Reaping | $40 million | $25.1 million | $37.6 million | $62.8 million | $19.8 million | $82.6 million |
| 2008 | RocknRolla | $15 million | $5.7 million | $20 million | $25.7 million | $7.4 million | $33.1 million |
| 2009 | Orphan | $20 million | $41,596,251 | $36,741,122 | $78,337,373 | $12,250,443 | $90,587,816 |
| 2009 | Whiteout | $35 million | $10,275,638 | $7,565,229 | $17,840,867 | $3,192,934 | $21,033,801 |
| 2009 | Ninja Assassin | $50 million | $38,122,883 | $23,471,000 | $61,593,883 | $13,841,623 | $75,435,506 |
| 2010 | The Losers | $25 million | $23,591,432 | $5,385,903 | $28,977,335 | $6,462,496 | $35,439,831 |
| 2010 | Splice | $30 million | $17,010,170 | $6,964,022 | $23,974,192 | $3,695,686 | $27,669,878 |
| Budget | Overall Total | US DVD Sales | Total |
| $374 million | $646 million | $62.9 million | $708 million |
(A) Indicates minimum, as that is only two countries totals merged.