Although commercially successful, "Quatermass 2"’s release was largely overshadowed by the box-office record-breaking performance of Hammer's "The Curse of Frankenstein", which was also released in May 1957. Upon this success, Hammer made its priority the production of Gothic horror films. For this reason, although Nigel Kneale had written a new Quatermass serial for the BBC, "Quatermass and the Pit" (broadcast December 1958 to January 1959), Hammer did not acquire the rights until 1961 and the film version did not appear until 1967. "Quatermass 2" is notable, however, for being the first film Hammer pre-sold to a major US distributor, in this case United Artists. This new finance and distribution deal would become the norm for subsequent Hammer films and led to them eventually winding down their own distribution arm, Exclusive Films, in the mid-1960s.