Production
HanWay picks up Daniel Stamm thriller The Darkness
HanWay has picked up international rights to Daniel Stamm’s (The Last Exorcism) new thriller The Darknessstarring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Thing). HanWay will also co-handle US rights with CAA, who rep Stamm and Winstead.
Megan Holley (Sunshine Cleaning) has scripted and producers are Joe Neurater of Occupant Entertainment and Felipe Marino and Ben Forkner of Management 360.
XYZ Films (The Raid) will be executive producing on the thriller which is set to shoot this summer in Europe.
Participant Gearing Up for Colombian Thriller
Participant developed the project and is producing with Spain’s Apache, Colombia’s Dynamo and XYZ Films; Summit will distribute.
Participant Media is gearing up to begin production on an untitled supernatural thriller about a Western family who moves to Colombia and learns their house is haunted.
Summit Entertainment will distribute the film worldwide per its deal with Participant; the two partners are co-financing the project with Imagenation.
Sony Nabs U.S. Rights For ‘The Raid’ Sequel
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has pre-bought U.S., Latin American and Spanish rights to the upcoming sequel to Indonesian action feature The Raid, which won the Midnight Madness Award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Tentatively titled Berandal for the Indonesian market, production will start at the end of 2012 in Jakarta. Raid star Iko Uwais will return and Gareth Huw Evans is set to direct and produce through his PT Merantau Films. LA-based XYZ Films is also on board as producer.
Sony Pictures Classics Releasing ‘The Raid’
Sony Pictures Classics has been set to release The Raid, the Gareth Evans-directed martial arts film that won the Midnight Madness Award at the recent Toronto Film Festival. It is also rumored to be en route to the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, by which time it will have a new soundtrack from Mike Shionda of Linkin Park, with Joseph Trapanese. For SPC, the film is a departure from its current awards contenders that include Take Shelter and Midnight In Paris, but the film was certainly one of the most buzzed-about films at Toronto for the industry crowd.
Screen Gems swoops in for ‘Raid’
Screen Gems has acquired remake rights for “The Raid,” the Indonesian action movie written and directed by Gareth Evans.
The remake will be produced by XYZ Films, which produced the original. Evans will exec produce but will not write or direct this new English-language film.
‘Where Do We Go Now’ & Midnight Madness Stunner ‘The Raid’ Win TIFF People’s Choice Awards
While there are no formal competition awards given out by the festival itself, over the past few years TIFF’s Audience Award—vote on by moviegoers—has often been an augur of future Oscar success. “The King’s Speech” (12 nominations, 4 wins including Best Picture), “Precious” (6 nominations, 2 wins), “Slumdog Millionaire” (10 nominations, 8 wins including Best Picture) and “Eastern Promises” (1 nomination) have all benefitted from the boost the honor bestows up on a picture. However, this year, TIFF attendees have gone with a pretty surprising choice—a film that will unlikely be much of an awards player but will definitely see its profile skyrocket.
Universal To Remake ‘Phasma Ex Machina’ With ‘Cup Of Tears’ Helmer Gary Shore
Universal Pictures has acquired remake rights to Phasma ex Machina, the small independent feature directing debut by Matt Osterman that was the toast of the genre film festival circuit. The studio acquired the project as a pitch for a horror movie called Our House, and the studio has attached Gary Shore to direct the remake and Nathan Parker to write it. Read Full Article
XYZ spells expansion into local-language productions
LA-based XYZ Films has announced the expansion of its efforts to include local-language film production with a slate of projects that includes emerging markets where Hollywood producers are teaming with local production crews to capitalize on a fertile landscape.
As part of the initiative, XYZ Films is executive producing “The Raid,” currently shooting in Indonesia by director Gareth Evans. This follows the company’s work as executive producers on “Greetings to the Devil,” a Spanish-language production in Colombia directed by the Orozco brothers and starring “Carlos’” Edgar Ramirez. Read Full Article
Trio resurrect ‘Frankenstein’s Army’
BERLIN — MPI Media Group, L.A.-based XYZ Films and Pellicola of Amsterdam have entered into a co-production deal for helmer-scribe Richard Raaphorst’s “Frankenstein’s Army.”
Project, financed by MPI Media, is expected to begin lensing in spring in Prague and Amsterdam with MPI and XYZ co-repping international sales rights. Read Full Article
Waugh to direct ‘Free’
Indie producer XYZ Films has tapped Ric Roman Waugh (“Felon”) to direct action thriller “Land of the Free,” set in Detroit against the collapsing auto industry.
Waugh will also produce alongside XYZ Films’ Nick Spicer, Nate Bolotin, and Aram Tertzakian.
Lee Toland Krieger, who received a Spirit Award screenplay nom for “The Vicious Kind,” is penning a script focusing on blue-collar resentment. Read Full Article