Rob Zombie’s 31 to Open Opposite Bridget Jones’ Baby

Deadline reports that Saban Films has acquired North American rights to Rob Zombie’s latest cinematic opus, 31. They have set a September 16 release date for the film. 31, which stars Malcolm McDowell and sixteen-time Best Actress nominee Sherri Moon Zombie, had previously belonged to a company called Alchemy, but financial woes have forced that outfit to sell off their library.

Saban’s previous credits include a lot of movies with famous people in them that you’ve probably never seen or never heard of: Man Up with Simon Pegg, MI-5 with Jon Snow, The Confirmation with Clive Owen, multiple John Travolta and Adrien Brody vehicles, etc. Basically, Saban distributes those movies you see pop up on VOD or whatever streaming service and you’re like “What the hell is that? When did Pierce Brosnan make a movie with Jessica fucking Alba???”

Zombie’s last film, The Lords of Sleeping Salem, was the center of a bidding war, ultimately landing with Anchor Bay for a cool $2 mil. The movie, which received a critical drubbing, was a box office failure, ultimately grossing only a little over a million dollars.

Hopefully the crack marketing team at Saban get put more butts in seats on Mr. Zombie’s behalf. September, after all the big summer movies have come out but before all the big Oscar hopefuls come out, is usually considered something of a “safe zone” in the movie business — it’s where you release dog shit because there will be nothing else for audiences to go see (e.g., the Resident Evil and Underworld franchises, Tyler Perry movies, etc.). 31‘s competition the weekend of its release will include a new Bridget Jones movie, Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden biopic, a teen thriller from the makers of Cat Fish, and a rip-off of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle aimed at so-called “urban” (read: African-American) audiences.

So at least Saban picked a decent release date.