The Stanley Hotel during The Stanley Film Festival
The inspiration to one of the most iconic and frightening stories in literature and cinema history is making big plans to make itself even more iconic. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where Stephen King was inspired to write his bestselling 1977 novel “The Shining”, is aiming to convert itself into a horror-themed museum. King’s novel went on to be adapted by Stanley Kubrick into the 1980 film of the same name, and the hotel that was the setting of the novel and film, the Overlook Hotel, was directly inspired by The Stanley.
According to The LA Times, the hotel has announced plans to build an addition to the hotel that will act as a “production studio, film archive, and horror-themed museum.” An ambitious project, the building will be named the Stanley Film Center and will also house an auditorium, museum, and traveling film exhibits as well as a “sound stage, post-production, and editing facilities.”
Admirably the entire Center will be a non-profit, public-private partnership and will work in conjunction with the Colorado Film School on various projects related to film studies. $12.5m has been used for the project and the hotel has also asked for an addition $11.5 to be funded from tourism in order to truly bring the project to its envisioned scope as well as year-round attraction, for a total of $24m.
Even better, the project has the support of the Colorado community as well as actors Simon Pegg and Elijah Wood, who’ve joined the board as founding members. It’s relieving to know the minds behind this project are sincere in their intentions, and not simply trying to convert the hotel into a run-of-the-mill haunted house on the cheap. A bonafide museum and production facility, including the other elements planned, will make the hotel a truly special landmark and set the standard for others wanting to take famous film locales to convert into a sort-of preservation.
READ MORE: Our coverage of The Stanley Film Festival
