Sales
Berlin 2012: Momentum Pictures Stitches Up U.K. Rights to Richard Raaphorst’s ‘Frankenstein’s Army’
BERLIN — Momentum Pictures, Alliance Films’ U.K. distribution division, has signed up to take writer-director Richard Raaphorst‘s horror film Frankenstein’s Army on a British tour of duty.
The movie, now shooting in Europe, is a co-production of MPI/Dark Sky Films, Los Angeles-based XYZ Films and Pellicola of Amsterdam.
Celluloid pair log sales
Genre specialist outfit Celluloid Nightmares has closed a raft of deals on “The Side Effect” and “Dead Mine” at the European Film Market.
“Side Effect,” helmed and penned by Ti West and toplining Liv Tyler, has sold to Revolver in the U.K., Rialto in Oz and Tiberius in Germany.
Additionally, the horror/sci-fi pic, which focuses on pharmaceutical medicines that are tested in outer space, also sold to China (HGC), India (Pictureworks), Eastern Europe (Blue Sky), Turkey (Calinos) and the Middle East (Germany).
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.
Liv Tyler Stars In Ti West’s New Thriller ‘The Side Effect’
Liv Tyler is set to star in The Side Effect, the next thriller by writer-director Ti West. West will be at Sundance to debutV/H/S, the found-footage horror film he co-directed. In The Side Effect, Tyler will play Catherine Rigby, a woman who spends several months alone in space as an experimental subject for a global pharmaceutical company, and finds herself inexplicably pregnant. Paranoia and hysteria reign as the truth behind conception grows more elusive and she remains stranded in space.
Drafthouse picks up Cannon Films doc
Drafthouse Films has acquired rights to documentary “Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” and plans a theatrical release for late 2012 to coincide with a traveling roadshow retrospective of Cannon’s seminal films
“Boogaloo,” from documentarian Mark Hartley (“Not Quite Hollywood”), centers on the two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who launched an indie studio that would produce over 120 exploitation films from 1979-1989 . The film is currently in pre-production in Australia with Veronica Fury producing and XYZ Films exec producing.
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.
IFC Midnight takes ‘Corridor’
IFC Midnight has picked up U.S. rights to “The Corridor,” the Canuck sci-fi/horror outing from debut helmer Evan Kelly.
Penned by Josh MacDonald, pic stars Stephen Chambers, James Gilbert and David Patrick Flemming in a story about a mentally unstable man whose reunion with friends is thrown into upheaval by a strange energy phenomenon discovered in the nearby woods.
Magnet attracts ‘Playback’
Magnet Releasing, the genre division of Magnolia Pictures, has picked up U.S. rights to “Playback,” the Michael A. Nickles horror pic with Christian Slater among its cast.
Nickles writes and helms “Playback,” which centers on a group of teens whose investigation into their hometown’s shady past unearths an evil spirit that possesses its victims. Toby Hemingway, Johnny Pacar and Ambyr Childers also are among the cast.
IFC Midnight Takes Multiple Rights to ‘Penumbra’
IFC Midnight has grabbed rights to directors Adrian and Ramiro Garcia Bogliano’s Penumbra in North America, Malaysia and Singapore. The deal was closed on the eve of the film’s world premiere Thursday at Fantastic Fest.
Cristina Brondo, Camila Bordonaba and Berta Muniz star in the Argentina-set story of a lawyer who runs into mysterious trouble when she tries to rent out an apartment she’s inherited on the day of a solar eclipse. The Boglianos wrote the screenplay, and Horacio and Esteban Mentasti andAlberto Trigo are executive producers.
‘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.