Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: Anchor Bay has a deal in place for the Rob Zombie-directed The Lords Of Salem, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival Monday evening in the Midnight Madness program. I’m hearing the deal is in the $1.5 million minimum guarantee range after that distributor had gone up against Image and Millennium Entertainment for the fright film and I’m hearing that the deal fell into place shortly after the premiere screening.

That deal was made with the provision that if a studio came along with a pre-negotiated bigger offer at a higher price point, the film’s brokers could take it. It’s believed Open Road and Lionsgate are possibles here, and the witching hour on that alternative scenario is Friday. Either way it’s a healthy deal for a scary film that played through the roof in its midnight debut before a Zombie-centric packed house. The deal is being brokered by Submarine’s Josh Braun, with the producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones. I’ll let you know the final outcome of all this when it is decided.

EARLIER EXCLUSIVE, SEPTEMBER 10, 5:59 PM EDT: Going into tonight’s Midnight Madness premiere of the Rob Zombie-directed The Lords Of Salem, there are three pre-emptive bids on the table. I’m hearing Anchor Bay is in the lead for the genre pic, but that Image and Bill Lee’s Millennium are also in the running. No deal will be made until after tonight’s screening, so a lot of distributors will be staying up late here in Toronto. The pic, scripted by Zombie, combines his backgrounds in music and fright fare. A Salem hard-rock radio DJ’s playing of a sinister heavy metal tune awakens a coven of nasty 17th century witches.

The film stars Bruce Davison, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Dee Wallace and was produced by Zombie, Jason Blum, Oren Peli, Steven Schneider and Andy Gould. IM Global shopped the project here at the Toronto Film Festival. Zombie, of course, previously directed two Halloween remakes and House Of 1000 Corpses among others.