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 and 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.

In 2012, Joel Silver and Universal Studios struck a 5-year, 12-picture, North American marketing and distribution deal, starting with the Liam Neeson action thriller Non-Stop on February 28, 2014. The second film in the distribution deal was originally going to be The Loft, a third-party film to which Dark Castle acquired the U.S distribution rights (as they did for Splice). Universal planned to release The Loft on August 29, 2014, but the studio pulled it from the schedule in favor of Legendary Pictures' As Above, So Below. Universal and Dark Castle sold the distribution rights to Open Road Films, who then released The Loft on January 30, 2015. Afterward, the Universal-Silver partnership was terminated, leaving Non-Stop as the only film to come out of it.

2015–present: New ownership and commercial success Dark Castle, with its then-parent company Silver Pictures, were 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 the 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.

Feature Films Release date Title 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 ShipWarner 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 October 16, 2007 Return to House on Haunted Hill Víctor GarciaWarner Premiere May 13, 2008 Botched Kit Ryan 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 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 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 February 1, 2013 Bullet to the Head Walter Hill February 19, 2013 The Factory Morgan O'Neill August 30, 2013 Getaway Courtney Solomon October 27, 2017 Suburbicon George Clooney Paramount Pictures May 21, 2021 Seance Simon Barrett RLJE Films August 19, 2022 Orphan: First Kill William Brent Bell Paramount Pictures February 21, 2025 Old Guy Simon West The Avenue February 28, 2025 Last Breath Alex Parkinson Focus Features/Elevation Pictures October 3, 2025 Shell Max Minghella Republic Pictures January 30, 2026 Worldbreaker Brad Anderson Aura Entertainment June 5, 2026 The Passenger Vadim Perelman Vertical July 3, 2026 Lockbox Daniel Stamm Aura Entertainment Upcoming April 23, 2027 Family Movie Kyra SedgwickKevin Bacon Variance Films Orphans William Brent Bell Republic Pictures/Lionsgate

Television series Year Title Creator(s) Network Ref. 2020 The Expecting Ben Ketai Quibi The Roku Channel

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 millionHouse on Haunted Hill (1999) $3.5 million (A) $44.4 million N/A N/A 2001 Thirteen Ghosts $42 million $41.7 millionThirteen Ghosts (2001) $26.6 millionThirteen Ghosts (2001) - International Box Office Results $68.5 million N/A N/A 2002 Ghost Ship $20 million $30.1 millionGhost Ship (2002) $38.2 million $68.3 million N/A N/A 2003 Gothika $40 million $59.7 millionGothika (2003) $81.7 million $141.6 million N/A N/A 2005 House of Wax $40 million $32.1 millionHouse of Wax (2005) $36.7 million $68.8 million N/A N/A 2007 The Reaping $40 million $25.1 millionThe Reaping (2007) $37.6 million $62.8 million $19.8 millionThe Reaping DVD (2007) $82.6 million 2008 RocknRolla $15 million $5.7 millionRocknRolla (2008) $20 million $25.7 million $7.4 millionRocknRolla DVD (2008) $33.1 million 2009 Orphan $20 million $41,596,251Orphan (2009) $36,741,122 $78,337,373 $12,250,443 $90,587,816 2009 Whiteout $35 million $10,275,638Whiteout (2009) $7,565,229 $17,840,867 $3,192,934Whiteout DVD (2009) $21,033,801 2009 Ninja Assassin $50 million $38,122,883Ninja Assassin(2009) $23,471,000 $61,593,883 $13,841,623Ninja Assassin DVD (2009) $75,435,506 2010 The Losers $25 million $23,591,432The Losers (2009) $5,385,903 $28,977,335 $6,462,496The Losers DVD (2010) $35,439,831 2010 Splice $30 million $17,010,170Splice (2010) $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.

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