A Colorado, US, hotel which inspired Stephen King's
The Shining has announced plans to open a horror-themed museum at the establishment, with some of the biggest names in horror backing the ambitious US$24m (€21.7m, £15.7m) project.
Led by Denver-based design firm MOA Architecture, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park will be home to the 43,000sq ft (4,000sq m) interactive museum, which will also feature a horror film archive and a film production studio with classrooms, workshop spaces and a 3,000sq ft (278sq m) soundstage. In addition, the site will be home to indoor and outdoor entertainment venues, a 500-seat auditorium and a discovery centre with temporary exhibits based on popular horror movies and shows such as
The Walking Dead.
Hollywood hotshots Elijah Wood and Simon Pegg, who have both appeared in horror-based flicks such as
Maniac and
Shaun of the Dead are on the centre’s founding board, as well as producer Daniel Noah and legendary horror film director George A. Romero.
In addition to having several celebrity backers on the museum’s board, the centre has already received multiple film and exhibit commitments from the likes of Charlie Aldard, primary artist for
The Walking Dead comic, makeup artist and special effects wizard Rick Baker, and Clive Barker – who has directed and produced hits such as
Hellraiser and
Candyman.
"I would love to have a home we can come to year-round to celebrate the genre with other horror fans from around the world," said Elijah Wood. "There's really no better place for there to be a permanent home for this as an art form than the Stanley Hotel. It was practically built for it."
To help fund development, the hotel has applied for US$11.5m (€10.4m, £7.5m) in film centre generated state sales tax through the Colorado Regional Tourism Act. Hotel management have said they hope the new attraction will boost the local economy, drawing hundreds-of-thousands of horror fans to iconic location every year.
"At 109-years-old, the story of the Stanley Hotel is just beginning," said Stanley Hotel owner John Cullen. "The Stanley Film Center is my chance to give back to the millions of horror fans around the world who have supported Estes Park and the hotel for so many years."
