Sundance Film Festival’s upcoming move to Boulder, Colorado, has the owners of a cinematically significant hotel nearby plotting an expansion for film festival fans longing to see the door once marked “REDRUM” or burst into rooms shouting, “Here's Johnny!”
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New owners of The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park are borrowing $300M to turn the venue into a destination spot for horror fans while tapping into Sundance traffic, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.
The hotel, about 40 miles northwest of Boulder, was a major inspiration for Stephen King’s 1977 bestseller The Shining. It was reimagined as a blockbuster film starring Jack Nicholson three years later.
Owners plan to turn to the municipal bond market to add 65 guest rooms and make improvements to the lobby. But the focus of renovations would be on a horror-themed event center that would include a museum and a film archive. The center would be curated by Blumhouse Productions, the company behind movies like Halloween and Paranormal Activity.
The bond offering will be issued through a state authority and backed in part by The Stanley’s revenue stream.
“The Stanley is a great old hotel,” King told Bloomberg via a representative. “For me it’s full of ghosts.”
King and his wife stayed at the hotel for one night in 1974, according to the author’s website. They were the only guests since The Stanley was set to shut down for the winter the next day.
During that stay, King had a nightmare about his young son being chased through the Stanley by a fire hose. The dream is what inspired the rest of the story.
The Stanley is a 196-room hotel that first opened in 1909. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits on a 40-acre campus, with outdoor pools, a spa and a concert venue.
After renovations, the hotel is set to continue hosting the annual Sundance Directors Lab program, which moved to The Stanley in 2024 and features new and established filmmakers.
Sundance had been based in Park City, Utah, since the festival’s inaugural year in 1978, becoming one of the most prominent independent film events in the world.
Organizers began exploring the idea of moving the event to a new city in 2023, and Boulder was named the winner last month.
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