Mere weeks before it was due to launch into theaters, Dimension Films and Blumhouse have delayed the release of Franck Khalfoun’s horror revival Amityville: The Awakening all the way into 2017 – January 6, to be specific, which is a full nine months after the original date of April 1.
It’s set to be distributed across North America by The Weinstein Company, who pointed to the success of other horror films releasing in January as the chief reason for the postponement. Indeed, that’s a trend studios will hope to continue early next week, considering that the long-gestating Friday the 13th reboot, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter are all on course to drop in January of 2017.
That places Amityville: The Awakening up against considerable competition, and given that this is the horror’s third bump in two years, the forecast appears gloomy for Khalfoun’s modern retelling. According to sources close with TWC, the company wanted to double down on the release of John Carney‘s indie musical Sing Street on April 15.
As for The Awakening, Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan, Thomas Mann and Kurtwood Smith all star in the spine-chilling horror, with the official logline describing the film as so: “Belle and her family move into a new house, but when strange phenomena begin to occur in the house, Belle begins to suspect her Mother isn’t telling her everything and soon realizes they just moved into the infamous Amityville house.”
In light of the film’s third – and surely final – delay, Amityville: The Awakening will arrive on January 6, 2017.