<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $4.7 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $86.4 million </Td> </Tr> <P> The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American supernatural horror film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, based on Jay Anson's 1977 book of the same name . It stars James Brolin and Margot Kidder as a young couple who purchase a home they come to find haunted by combative supernatural forces . The story is based on the alleged experiences of the Lutz family who bought a new home on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, a house where a mass murder had been committed the year before . It is the first film based on the Amityville horror . </P> <P> Upon its release in the summer of 1979, The Amityville Horror was a major commercial success for American International Pictures, grossing over USD $80 million in the United States and going on to become one of the highest - grossing independent films of all time . It received mostly negative reviews from critics, though the film has been contemporarily noted by film scholars as a classic of the horror genre . </P>

When did the amityville horror movie come out