The Weinstein Company's first post-Harvey scandal film, "Amityville: The Awakening" grossed a minuscule $742 over 10 locations this past Saturday.
The film is a sequel to the original 1979 movie "The Amityville Horror" which is based on a series of events that unfolded in 1974 at a home in Amityville, New York. The house was the site of one of the most horrific murders in American history, where Ronald Defeo Jr. shot his entire family after claiming he had been coaxed to do so by paranormal entities.
The Weinstein company had been planning several different release dates before deciding to ditch a full theatrical release for the sequel. On Sept. 21, two weeks before the Harvey scandal broke, The Weinstein Company announced that the film would be released for free on Google Play between Oct. 12 and Nov. 8.
Also noted in the announcement was a one day theatrical release in just 10 locations that would take place on Oct. 28.
The numbers from the weekend box office came in at a tiny $742, marking a big loss against The Weinstein Company. Now while the weak release, poor marketing, and free option on Google Play may have played major roles in the film's poor turnout, this could be the start of a large dropoff for the production company behind it.
As the number of accusers grows, films linked to Weinstein might have some trouble as movie-goers become warier of who their money is going towards.
Unfortunately for the general public, it looks like Hollywood might be chocked full of predators, and at this point, there might be few productions that aren't linked to some kind of misconduct. In a move, unrelated to the poor numbers of "Amityville: The Awakening" but in a definite distancing from Weinstein, BBC dropped The Weinstein Company from "Les Miserables" as a partner on the TV adaptation.
It will surely be some time until proper action is taken to root out all of the dirty player's in Hollywood, but until then several productions will have to take care to distance themselves from character's like Weinstein, otherwise "Amityville: The Awakening" might not remain an isolated incident.
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(Cover photo: Nick Stepowyj)