THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 2011
TODAY The Day
www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial +1 310 922 5908
AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET Advertising +44 7595 646 541
Siberian Education
WestEnd snaps up Neil Jordan, Salvatores pics
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN WestEnd Films has taken interna- tional rights to Neil Jordan’s Byzan- tium and Gabriele Salvatores’ fi rst English-language film Siberian Education starring John Malkovich. Byzantium sees long-time col-
laborators Neil Jordan and Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen of Number 9 Films re-team with Alan Moloney of Parallel Films. Moira Buffi ni (Jane Eyre, Tamara Drewe) has written the story of mother- and-daughter vampires who form a deadly pact. Gemma Arterton, Saoirse
Ronan, Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones and Danny Mays star in the feature, which is being fi nanced by WestEnd and the Irish Film Board. Shooting will start on December 1. The UK sales outfit has also
taken rights to Salvatores’ drama Siberian Education about life in the criminal underworld in the former USSR, starring Malkovich. Writing partners Stefano Rulli
and Sandro Petraglia (Romanzo Criminale) teamed with Salvatores on the adaptation of Nicolai Lilin’s cult memoir about growing up among a gang of criminals with a fi erce moral code. Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini and Marco Chi- menz of Cattleya produce. The fi lm is shooting now in Italy and Lithuania. WestEnd’s slate also includes
Love Bite, Albert Nobbs, A Late Quartet and Footnote.
FilmNation’s The Raven, House in near sell-outs
BY JEREMY KAY FilmNation has virtually sold out on its first two productions, The Raven and House At The End Of The Street. Universal has acquired UK,
Spain, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand r ight s to James McTeigue’s Edgar Allan Poe mys- tery The Raven, which FilmNation produced with Intrepid Pictures. Relativity will release in the US on March 9, 2012. John Cusack stars. Rights have also gone to Ger-
many (Square One), Italy (Eagle Pictures), CIS (Top Film), Scandi- navia (Nordisk), Canada (VVS), South Africa (Ster Kinekor), Swit- zerland (Ascot Elite), Portugal (Lusomundo), South Korea (Noori), China (HGC), Taiwan (SSG) and Greece (Odeon). Further deals closed in Bulgaria,
Czech/Slovak, ex-Yugoslavia, Hun- gary, Poland and Romania (SPI), Iceland (Sam), Israel (LEV Cine- mas), Middle East (Italia), Turkey
The Raven
(TMC), Latin America (Sun), India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Philip- pines and Singapore (Multivision), Indonesia (PT Amero) and Thai- land (Sahamongkol). Mark Tonderai’s horror film
House At The End Of The Street, which FilmNation produced with A Bigger Boat, stars Jennifer Law- rence, Max Thieriot and Elisabeth Shue. Relativity will release in the US on April 20 next year. Rights have gone to the UK
(Momentum), Australia (Road- show), France (SND), Germany (Square One), Japan (Pony Can- yon), South Africa (Ster Kinekor),
Sony jumps on board Bailout
BY WENDY MITCHELL Ealing Metro has struck a multi- territory deal with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) on Michael Winterbottom’s Bailout to star Jack Black. The Sony deal covers North
America, South America, Australia, South Africa and Scandinavia and was negotiated by Will Machin for Ealing Metro with Tana Evans and Michael Helfand for SPWA. The producers on the comedy, which is adapted from the novel
Jack Black
The Financial Lives Of The Poets, are Michael Besman, Revolution’s Melissa Parmenter, Jack Black and Priyanka Mattoo. The fi lm is set to shoot in the US in January.
Bavaria snatches Heineken Kidnapping, strikes UK deal The film hit the headlines
Bavaria Film International has picked up Dutch box-office hit The Heineken Kidnapping and struck a UK deal with Arrow Films. Rutger Hauer stars in the thriller
based on the 1980s kidnapping of lager tycoon Freddy Heineken.
recently when Heineken’s kidnapper, Willem Holleeder, unsuccessfully tried to block the film’s release as he feared it would damage his reputation. Last weekend it debuted in second place
Italy (Eagle), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Scandinavia (Nordisk), Por- tugal (Lusomundo) and Greece (Odeon). FilmNation CEO Glen Basner
and his sales team have also closed deals in China (HGC), South Korea (Thomas Enterprise), Taiwan (SSG), Benelux (Paradiso), Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Singa- pore (WEG), Latin America (Sun), Turkey (R Film), ex-Yugoslavia (Cinemania), Eastern Europe (EEAP), Middle East (Italia Film), Indonesia (PT Amero), Malaysia and Philippines (Multivision), Thailand (HBO Pacific Partners) and Iceland (Sam Films). “It’s very encouraging to have
domestic and international dis- tributors in place on our fi rst two productions,” Basner said. “The Raven and House At The End Of The Street are well positioned with 2012 release dates which helps pave the way for our diverse pro- duction slate to follow.”
AFM BRIEFS
TWC circles Song For Marion The Weinstein Company is believed to be close to a domestic deal for Paul Andrew Williams’ Song For Marion, the UK comedy- drama about a grumpy old man who joins a choir. eOne Films International is selling rights outside the US. In other US pick- ups, Anchor Bay has taken Ten Year; Pantelion Films has acquired US rights to Casa De Mi Padre starring Will Ferrell; and Well Go USA has taken North American rights from Fortissimo to Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale.
at the Dutch box office, close behind The Adventures Of Tintin. The UK deal was negotiated
between Bavaria’s head of sales, Stefanie Zeitler, and Tom Stewart, head of acquisitions at Arrow Films. Andreas Wiseman
Europa blasts off with 12 Sierra/Affinity has sold Sebastian Cordero’s space adventure Europa to 12 territories including France (Metropolitan Filmexport), Germany/Switzerland (Ascot Elite), South Korea (Noori) and Australia/ New Zealand (Hopscotch).
» Full stories on
ScreenDaily.com
Celluloid’s Chicken With Plums cooks with Sony Classics
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Celluloid Dreams has closed a slew of territories on Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Chicken With Plums, including a deal for the US and Latin America with Sony Pictures Classics. Other new deals include Canada
(Alliance), Germany (Prokino), Japan (Gaga), Taiwan (Filmware), Benelux (CineArt), Poland (CD Projekt) and Turkey (Bir). Mathieu Amalric stars in the
drama about a talented musician who loses the will to live after his wife breaks his beloved violin dur- ing an argument. The fi lm had its world premiere
in competition at Venice and recently won the best fi lm award at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival. Celluloid is screening Chicken With Plums here at the AFM from Friday.
NEWS Day breaks eOne strikes a multi-territory deal with Content for hit thriller The Day. Nettai takes Japanese rights. » PAGE 2
FEATURES International intrigue Behind the shake-ups at the studios’ international divisions. » PAGE 8
Scenic drive Paul Walker is back in the driver’s seat in South Africa-set thriller Vehicle 19. » PAGE 20
Chicken With Plums
DAY 2
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64