So when a movie is so bad that fully three-quarters of its paying audience ridicules it, critics pan it and it receives a rating of, currently, 6% at Rotten Tomatoes, it’s safe to call it a flop, right? What about when that movie cost around $1 million to make and managed to take in over $30 million on its opening weekend? That’s the case with The Devil Inside, an exorcism tale that’s apparently so bad that audiences just have to see it. While that’s a bold marketing technique to apply, Sierra/Affinity and the Incentive Filmed Entertainment fund are hoping that the next iteration from writer/director William Brent Bell and writer Matthew Peterman is at least as financially successful and hopefully more critically well received. The partnership has announced that they will finance and produce the as of yet untitled project by the duo. For now, production is scheduled to begin in April in Romania using a similar style of filmmaking applied to another horror mythology. Hit the jump for more details.

While Romania to me screams “vampires,” the project details are currently being kept under lock and key. Assisting in production of the new project will be Steven Schneider of Paranormal Activity and Insidious, Morris Paulson also of The Devil Inside along with Peterman himself. I guess the “get rich quick” horror guys like to stick together. It’s all about the dollars at this point, though the new partners are quick to praise the filmmakers’ “original voice” in this quote from Sierra/Affinity CEO, Nick Meyer:

“From day one we have been huge fans of this filmmaking team and the way they have crafted a unique movie-going experience with THE DEVIL INSIDE.  These are filmmakers we know and trust and they bring an original voice and style to our next project that will once again introduce audiences to a new expectation of what one can define as a genre film.”

Check out the rest of the press release below…at your own peril.

SIERRA / AFFINITY TEAMS WITH THE FILMMAKERS BEHIND THE DEVIL INSIDE

Sierra / Affinity’s Genre Bending UNTITLED BELL/PETERMAN PROJECT set for production start of Q2 2012

Los Angeles, CA  January 11 , 2012 – Sierra / Affinity, along with its partner, the Incentive Filmed Entertainment fund, announced today that they will finance and produce the UNTITLED BELL/PETERMAN PROJECT directed by William Brent Bell from a script that he and Matthew Peterman wrote.  The project is from the same filmmaking team which shattered box office expectations this weekend with their film THE DEVIL INSIDE.  The UNTITLED PROJECT will begin production in Romania in April, and is being produced by Steven Schneider (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and INSIDIOUS), and Matthew Peterman (THE DEVIL INSIDE), and Morris Paulson (THE DEVIL INSIDE). Bell, Peterman, and Paulson will run the film through their production company PROTOTYPE. Sierra / Affinity will introduce the project to buyers in Berlin during EFM 2012 in February.

The UNTITLED BELL/PETERMAN PROJECT offers a similar style of filmmaking the team brought to THE DEVIL INSIDE applied to another classic horror mythology. The plot details of the new project are being kept under wraps.

Nick Meyer, CEO of Sierra / Affinity, stated, “From day one we have been huge fans of this filmmaking team and the way they have crafted a unique movie-going experience with THE DEVIL INSIDE.  These are filmmakers we know and trust and they bring an original voice and style to our next project that will once again introduce audiences to a new expectation of what one can define as a genre film.”

The UNTITLED BELL/PETERMAN PROJECT joins a growing list of original productions financed by Sierra / Affinity through its partnership with Incentive including the upcoming film PARKER starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez and directed by Taylor Hackford from a screenplay written by John J. McLaughlin.  The film is based on the highly acclaimed Parker series of 17 novels by Donald E. Westlake and will be distributed in the US by FilmDistrict. Last year, Sierra / Affinity produced SHARK NIGHT which is available on DVD this week.  Incentive also financed the upcoming AREA 51 project written and directed by PARANORMAL ACTIVITY director Oren Peli.

ABOUT SIERRA / AFFINITY LLC

Sierra / Affinity is a leading independent film finance, production, and foreign sales company with the mandate of consistently delivering high-quality, commercially viable feature films for a global audience.  Led by Nick Meyer and Marc Schaberg, Sierra/Affinity capitalizes on the ever-evolving global film marketplace representing sales of third party films and commercial films designed to appeal to both the North American marketplace as well as top markets around the globe.  In addition to representing sales of third party films, the company acts as the exclusive sales agent for films developed and produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Bold Films and Sierra Pictures and its partner, Incentive Filmed Entertainment.