Hyde Park pacts with Dark Horse

Alliance will launch with 'Blackburne Covenant'

By DAVE MCNARY

Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment and Mike Richardson's Dark Horse Entertainment and Dark Horse Comics are partnering on a slate of independent films.

The alliance will launch with "The Blackburne Covenant," based on the Dark Horse graphic novel by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Stefano Raffaele. Story deals with the publication of a bestselling novel in which the author's fictional plot turns out to have a supernatural basis in reality. 

Under the partnership, the companies plan to produce a series of medium-budget films based on Dark Horse properties. Dark Horse Entertainment's production credits include "The Mask," "Hellboy" and the upcoming "30 Days of Night."

"Mike and his Dark Horse team have had wonderful success bringing select comicbook and graphic novel titles to the screen from their vast library," Amritraj said. Hyde Park's senior exec, Patrick Aiello, will supervise the partnership.

Hyde Park's recent credits include "Premonition," "Death Sentence" and "Asylum." It has a five-year, first-look co-financing/producing deal with Fox.