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Resurrection
On 31 January, 2000, Hammer Film Productions Ltd was acquired by a private investment consortium consisting of - amongst others - Larry Chrisfield, chairman of the British Film Commission, Rob Dickins, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and former chairman of Warner Music, Neil Mendoza and William Sieghart of Forward Publishing, and Charles Saatchi, co-founder of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. The consortium announced their plan to resurrect the Hammer name across all types of media, including the internet and digital television. The ex-chairman of Hammer, Roy Skeggs, and his son Graham Skeggs, were kept on as consultants.
The following year, Hammer Entertainment Ltd (as they had been renamed) announced a six-picture deal with FirstSight Films Ltd, an independent film production company headed up by Charles Sturridge, director of the classic TV mini-series Brideshead Revisited (made by Granada TV in 1984 and based on the book by Evelyn Waugh) and the recent Shackleton for Channel Four. While it looks like Hammer might one day return to film production, with only Roy Skeggs left with any connection to the original Hammer 'family' it could never be the same. For many of the fans of the original films, the future of Hammer lies resolutely in its past.
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