Film Center With Focus On Horror Planned For Stanley Hotel

ESTES PARK, Colo. (CBS4) - The Stanley Hotel has released plans to create a film center at the hotel with the world's first horror themed museum.

The Stanley Film Center would host a year-round horror destination with a museum, film archive, and film production studio. The project applied for an $11.5 million grant through the State of Colorado's Regional Tourism Act, which would close the funding gap.

The center will operate as a non-profit, public-private partnership and has a Founding Board comprised of names like Elijah Wood, Simon Pegg, and George A. Romero. It is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of film fans.

Designed by an award-winning Denver architecture firm, the Film Center will feature indoor and outdoor venues, with views of Rocky Mountain National Park, including a 500-seat auditorium, an interactive museum featuring rotating exhibits like The Walking Dead, a soundstage, classrooms, and editing suites.

"At 109-years-old, the story of the Stanley Hotel is just beginning," said Stanley Hotel owner, John Cullen, in a press release. "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."

The film center also has a relationship with the Colorado Film School, which will expand to an apprenticeship and artist-in-residence program, giving students the opportunity to participate in the operation, curation and creative elements of the center.

More announcements on the Stanley Film Center are expected to come soon.