Dark Planet Releasing Announces Cinematic Release of Highly Anticipated Horror Movie Starring Horror Film Legend Doug Bradley

January 22, 2024

Collaboration with Emagine Entertainment, B&B Theatres, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, and MetaMedia Will Target Horror Enthusiasts Across the Country with Movie and Live Content Delivered Exclusively by MetaMedia’s Cloud-Based Cinema Network

 

LOS ANGELES – Dark Planet Releasing, Emagine Entertainment, B&B Theatres, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, and MetaMedia have joined critically-acclaimed horror writer and director Doug Schulze (The Dark Below, Hellmaster and Mimesis) to release exclusively in cinemas Thorns, a highly-anticipated horror, featuring horror icon Doug Bradley, who is well-known for his role as the lead Cenobite “Pinhead” in Hellraiser franchise films. 

Thorns has played to rave reviews and enthusiastic audiences at film festivals worldwide, including Sitges Brigadoon festival, Fright Fest in London, Monsters of Film, and most recently, the film was shown as the closing night film at the New York City Horror Film Festival. Film reviewers have said the following about Thorns:

Reviewer Carl Fisher of GBHBL said, “Director Douglas Schulze has done a fantastic job of marrying religious dogma with an apocalyptic story, while also delivering on horror and gore.”

Tony Timpone, Co-Producer of Thorns, former longtime editor of Fangoria magazine, and horror luminary said, “It has been exciting watching Thorns’ international journey from festival to festival, picking up countless fans along the way. After a packed North American premiere at the NYC Horror Film Festival, now even more audiences in the US can embrace Douglas Schulze’s unique horror film in theaters across the country.”

“At its core, Thorns is an homage to 80’s era monster movies, from our use of practical effects to a synth fueled music score and lots of easter eggs. Hellraiser, The Thing, Alien are all great films with even greater practical makeup effects. For me the best horror cinema steers away from the computer realm when pursuing all things visceral. Thorns is meant as a visceral experience”, said Doug Schulze, Thorns Writer and Director. 

Michigan-based Emagine Entertainment will host the North American Thorns red carpet premiere on Saturday, February 17, 2024 from its Royal-Oak theater. The premiere will feature live interviews with key cast members, including horror film icon Doug Bradley, who received the 2023 New York City Horror Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Beginning on Friday, February 23, MetaMedia will exclusively deliver the movie to the following Emagine Entertainment, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, and B&B Theatres in a first wave of targeted cities including Detroit, Kansas City and San Diego, with a wider release scheduled for later in 2024:

  • Emagine Royal Oak (Royal Oak, MI)
  • Emagine Canton (Canton, MI)
  • Emagine Novi (Novi, MI)
  • Emagine Rochester Hills (Rochester Hills, MI)
  • B&B Lee’s Summit 16 (Lee’s Summit, MO)
  • B&B Overland Park 16 (Overland Park, KS)
  • B&B Shawnee 18 (Shawnee, KS)
  • Cinepolis Cinemas Vista Village (Vista, CA)

A recent New York Times newsletter noted that “there’s a growing legion of gore fans out there, as interest in scary films has been on the rise.” In 2014, horror movies made up a 2.69 percent share of the annual box office, but the percentage jumped up to 10.61 percent in 2023. Seeking to help facilitate and promote this trend in 2024, Emagine Entertainment, Dark Planet Releasing, and MetaMedia are working closely with Schulze to deliver Thorns, a homage to horror classics such as The Exorcist (1973), The Thing (1982) and Hellraiser (1987) and target horror film fanatics in cities where they reside.  

“Emagine Entertainment is delighted to extend its support to independent filmmakers by offering them a platform to showcase their films. We take pride in providing a remarkable experience for both filmmakers and their guests, allowing them to witness their creations on the big screen, just as they were intended to be seen,” expressed Anthony LaVerde, CEO of Emagine Entertainment. “It is truly an honor for Emagine to host the red carpet premiere and Q&A session for the film ‘Thorns’, with esteemed guests Doug Schulze and Doug Bradley in attendance. This event promises to be an exhilarating experience for all attendees.”

“We see a major growing trend with the horror film genre and we couldn’t be more excited to work with two major icons in the industry, including both Doug Schulze and Doug Bradley,” said MetaMedia Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jason Brenek. “As a company it’s our goal to deliver the best event experiences in the world and the horror genre is providing some of the most stimulating and imaginative events out there.” 

 

About Thorns

One of the most celebrated and compelling horror icons returns to the big screen as Doug Bradley, who received the 2023 New York City Horror Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In Thorns, Bradley, known for his role as Pinhead in the Hellraiser franchise, mentors an ex-priest working for NASA and is sent to investigate a remote observatory that went silent after receiving a mysterious radio signal from deep space. Upon arrival, he discovers the signal opened a portal unleashing a thorned monster. The former priest must now summon his lost faith to stop the signal from spreading hell on earth. 

Written and directed by Douglas Schulze, the film stars Doug Bradley, Cassandra Schomer, Jon Bennett and Bo Schumaker.  

 

About Emagine Entertainment

Emagine Entertainment’s affiliates own and operate luxury theaters in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Emagine operates theaters with a combined 30,068 seats and 342 screens.  Emagine led the way in bringing luxury theaters to the metropolitan Detroit market. Emagine enjoys the honor and distinction of being named “Best Movie Theater” for several years running by the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, and WDIV television. Emagine has been named “Best Theater to See a First-Run Movie” by Hour Detroit Magazine consecutively for the past 9 years.

Emagine is a recognized innovator in the theatrical exhibition industry having been the first theater chain in the world to convert to 100% digital projection. In 1997, Cinema Hollywood (now Emagine Birch Run) was the first theater in Michigan to open with all stadium seating. Emagine was the first to introduce 4K projection to the Detroit market, and it boasted 3 of the first 100 Dolby Atmos® immersive sound systems deployed worldwide. On December 15, 2017, Emagine began operating the largest movie screen in the State of Michigan with the opening of its Super EMAX auditorium (featuring laser projection technology) at its megaplex in Novi, Michigan; and on December 19, 2019, Emagine opened the largest CinemaScope screen in the Midwest at its Emagine Canton/Westland location.  Paul Glantz, Chairman of Emagine Entertainment, has been interviewed on CNN concerning his views and opinions on the operation of luxury theaters. On February 28, 2018, Emagine Entertainment, Inc., and 7-time BET Award-winning and Grammy® nominated superstar Big Sean (Sean Anderson) announced their joint venture agreement to develop, Sean Anderson Theatre, powered by Emagine, a world-class cinematic and live music entertainment center in Detroit (and potentially at other sites around the U.S.). The new partnership is actively scouting prospective sites in Detroit.  For more information, please visit www.emagine-entertainment.com

 

About MetaMedia 

MetaMedia is the first global entertainment platform that delivers movies, premium content and live events to cinemas and other venues around the world. MetaMedia’s cloud-based platform provides for the secure, rapid and cost-effective delivery of big-screen entertainment to cinemas. MetaMedia is headquartered in Los Angeles. For more information, please visit www.metamedia.global

© 2021 MetaMedia Tech Inc., a Delaware Company.

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Jason Brenek

Chief Executive Officer

Leveraging two decades of senior executive experience across multiple sectors of the film and entertainment industry, Jason Brenek assembled a group of powerful industry leaders with incomparable experience and relationships to forge the building blocks of MetaMedia. As Chief Executive Officer of MetaMedia, Brenek focuses intently on realizing the operational, economic and programming benefits of creating a next-generation distribution network, which are mutually-beneficial to content producers and cinemas around the world.

Prior to MetaMedia, Brenek was President of IMAX HOME at the IMAX Corporation, where he led business and engineering teams around the world to develop and launch multiple new products, technologies, and platforms. Before IMAX, Brenek spent over a decade in senior management roles at The Walt Disney Studios. While serving as Senior Vice President of International In-Home and Head of Global Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Brenek established partnerships with global brands including Netflix, Google, Amazon, Apple. and Samsung to distribute Disney-owned content across new digital/OTT platforms, television, and retail. Brenek previously served as Disney's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Digital Cinema and Cinema Programming, overseeing the company's global transition from analog to digital cinema. Brenek also developed and co-produced two Disney feature films and multiple live sporting events in cinemas with ESPN. Brenek received his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Danny C. Stein

Chairman

Danny Stein is a seasoned, growth-oriented media and technology executive with 30 years of operating and investment experience across media, technology, and consumer businesses. Stein has managed across the full life-cycle of deal origination, deal execution, business building and exit for small and mid- cap public, private and distressed companies. Stein is a digital media innovator having built a portfolio of businesses as CEO of Dimensional Associates 2003-2014, including as the Executive Chairman of the Orchard Enterprises, a global music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution and 1091 Pictures, a digital and theatrical distribution company. From 2015-2016, Stein was the Senior Vice President, Growth Investments of MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings, Inc., a company that acquires and manages a diversified portfolio of public and private companies across various industry segments.  In that role, Stein’s focus was on building and investing in digital media and technology-enabled businesses. Through MacAndrews and Forbes, Stein also served as President of New Media and Corporate Development at Deluxe Entertainment (a wholly owned subsidiary of MacAndrews of Forbes), responsible for Corporate Development, M&A, Strategy, Digital Media and Innovation.

Chuck Goldwater

President, North America

For over two decades, Chuck Goldwater has served as a senior executive in the entertainment and cinema exhibition industry which has earned him incomparable industry-wide trust and respect. As President, North America for MetaMedia, Goldwater draws upon his broad understanding and deep connections to exhibitors and studios across the country to create a robust network of exhibitor and studio partnerships for MetaMedia. He also applies his knack and experience for building successful entertainment startups to MetaMedia's growing infrastructure and success.

Prior to MetaMedia, Goldwater was co-founder and CEO at cinema chain New Vision Theaters. Before that, Goldwater served as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Carmike Cinemas, which acquired Digiplex Destinations, a cinema chain where Goldwater served as Executive Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors. At New Vision, Carmike, and Digiplex, Goldwater was an energetic and effective advocate for alternative programming and “event cinema” as a means of increasing seat utilization and creating incremental revenue for exhibitors. Before Digiplex, Goldwater was President of Cinedigm (formerly known as AccessIT), the company credited with deploying the first digital cinema infrastructure and electronic delivery network. Previously, Goldwater was selected by the then seven largest Hollywood studios to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Digital Cinema Initiatives (“DCI”), a joint venture that created the industry-wide specifications and the technical quality and security architecture for digital cinema systems. Goldwater was also inducted into the industry’s ShowEast Hall of Fame and is a Will Rogers/Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation Board Advisory Member.

Shaiwal “Shay” Priyadarshi

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

A dynamic inventor with over a dozen patents, Shaiwal "Shay" Priyadarshi is a trusted leader and mentor to high-performing tech teams, executives and business partners. For over 25 years, Priyadarshi has assembled and led front-end and back-end engineering teams, developed market-leading products and intellectual property that spans from embedded systems and data centers to leading cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Oracle Cloud. As chief technology officer (CTO) for MetaMedia, Priyadarshi continues to maintain his exemplary track record of overseeing innovative products from concept to delivery.

Prior to MetaMedia, Priyadarshi was CTO of IMAX Home, where he developed the world's highest-quality, internet-delivered video playback system needed to support IMAX Corporation’s pioneering technologies. Before IMAX, he served as CTO of PRIMA Cinema where he led the research, development and approval processes of the world's first and only movie service that was authorized to distribute new Hollywood movies to private home theaters. And previous to PRIMA Cinema, he worked as director of engineering at DivX, where he led the development of new technologies that power many leading streaming services today. Priyadarshi received his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Electronics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.