We have some good news today. Both “Passion” and “To The Wonder” found distributors for the U.S. rights. “Passion“, directed by Brian de Palma, was picked up by Entertainment One and “To The Wonder” will be distributed by Magnolia Pictures. Both movies premiered at the Venice Film Festival and were also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and are expected to be released early 2013.
You can find articles on the distribution deals below/inside with quotes from the producers and or spokeswomen of the compagnies. Let’s hope more promotional material will be released in the next weeks!
Canadian distributor Entertainment One has acquired the North American rights to Brian De Palma’s Passion from SBS Productions.
The Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace-starrer, based on the 2010 French thriller Love Crime, bowed in competition at Venice and screened in Toronto.
Passion portrays a deadly power struggle between two women in the dog-eat-dog world of international business.
“Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace performances are captivating and De Palma delivers another great thriller that audiences have already embraced at Venice and Toronto,” David Reckziegel, president of eOne Films North America, said Friday.
The deal was negotiated by ICM Partners along with SBS Productions’ Saïd Ben Saïd and Sejin Croninger, and Reckziegel for Entertainment One.
ICM Partners also represents De Palma.
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In what amounts to the last major film to emerge from the Toronto Film Festival with a distribution deal, Magnolia has acquired To The Wonder, the Terrence Malick-directed film that stars Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. Magnolia will release it in a multi-platform strategy that starts with a theatrical release in 2013.
Affleck plays an American, Neil, who falls in love with a Ukranian girl Marina (Kurylenko) he meets in Paris, and asks her to return with him to Oklahoma to start a life together. While Marina and Neil can’t connect in her new home, she makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Bardem) who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews a relationship with a childhood sweetheart, Jane (McAdams). The film will be marketed by Magnolia as an exploration of love in its many forms.
The film, which premiered in Venice, polarized the Toronto crowd. It was described as a very personal film for Malick, who made it far quicker than the time he usually takes between films. Malick’s pictures are something of an acquired taste ( I love ‘em), but this didn’t get the rousing reaction that his last film, The Tree Of Life, received when it premiered at Cannes en route to a Best Picture Oscar nomination. For that reason, Magnolia seems a good home for Malick’s latest, which will require some care and customization that Magnolia’s collapsing window strategy can provide. It’ll be released first in theaters, but I think the film would struggle in a wider theatrical release plan.
The film is produced by Sarah Green and Nicolas Gonda, who along with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki collaborated with Malick on Tree Of Life and The New World. FilmNation’s Glen Basner is executive producer, along with Jason Krigsfeld and Joseph Krigsfeld of Brothers K Productions.
“It is an honor and a dream come true to be working with Terrence Malick, one of our greatest living filmmakers,” Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said in a statement after confirming Deadline’s scoop. “To The Wonder is a romantic, haunting and beautiful film that will be endlessly rewarding for movie lovers.”
Green and Gonda, speaking on behalf of the Malick team, said: “We are excited to partner with Magnolia for the release of To The Wonder. Magnolia has become a destination for the work of some of the world’s most innovative and talented directors, and we are proud to align with this forward-thinking team.”
The deal was negotiated by CAA and Magnolia SVP Acquisitions Dori Begley.
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