Markets

Kiah Roache-Turner’s WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE Hits The Ground Running Ahead Of The Cannes Market With A New Still

Lee B. Golden III

The Wyrmwood franchise is back with another steaming pile of zombie violence and brooding spectacle with a new still out now from the latest feature installment, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, which you can view above. The film is helmed by returning director Kiah Roache-Turner from a script he co-wrote with Tristan Roache-Turner, and with Arclight Films set to handle worldwide distribution rights for buyers at Cannes. In a zombie-infested Australian wasteland, soldier Rhys has dedicated his life to tracking and capturing survivors for the Surgeon General in hopes of finding a cure. But when he learns all is not as it seems, he must team up with Maxi, and siblings Brooke and Barry to race against the clock and save the one person who may be the key to ending the apocalypse. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is the sequel to IFC Midnight’s Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014), which lit up crowds before audiences at […]

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THE DIVE: Survival Thriller Heads Up New Production/Sales Partnership For augenschein and Protagonist

Lee B. Golden III

Sophie Lowe and Louisa Krause are set to star in elevated survival thriller, The Dive, from rising German filmmaker Maximilian Erlenwein. Principal photography on will commence in mid-August on location in Malta and Germany. The official logline for The Dive reads as follows, according to augenschein: “A dive at one of the world’s most remote spots becomes a fight for survival for sisters Drew (25) and May (30), when rocks tumble into the sea after a landslide, trapping May in the deep. As their oxygen runs low, Drew is forced to make a decision on life and death all by herself, with no help in sight…” The film is the first to emerge in a new slate stemming from a partnership between augenschein Sales and production, finance and sales outfit Protagonist Pictures. The two firms will co-represent worldwide rights on The Dive, as well as future select feature film titles […]

THE ENFORCER Enlists Antonio Banderas To Star From Millenium Media

Lee B. Golden III

Anyone else up for another Antonio Banderas-led turn at the action genre? Take a gander at Richard Hughes’ The Enforcer, which launches sales for the virtual Cannes market this month from Millennium Media. Set in Miami, the story follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cybersex trafficking, putting a young runaway he has befriended at risk. The enforcer sets out to sacrifice everything to save the young girl from the deadly organisation he has spent his life building. Banderas, who joins Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg for Sony’s upcoming action adventure, Uncharted, will star from a script by W. Peter Iliff who penned both Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break and the 2015 reboot among other credits. As Screen Daily reports, “Rob Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, and Les Weldon of Millennium Media are producing alongside Natalie Burn of Born to Burn Films. […]

THE WRECK: ‘Skylines’ Director Tackles Shark Thriller Filming This Fall

Lee B. Golden III

Liam O’Donnell’s newest thriller is on deck for international sales at Altitude with survival pic, The Wreck. Principal photography will commence in Malta in September with O’Donnell directing from a script by Nick Saltrese (A Prayer Before Dawn) and with shark attack film veteran Mark Silk (47 Meters Down, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged) serving as DoP, according to Variety’s Naman Ramachandran. The Wreck “will follow a group of old college friends who reunite on a Caribbean scuba diving trip exploring the wreckage of a WWII battleship and find themselves trapped inside the underwater labyrinth of rusted metal surrounded by great white sharks.” Andrew Prendergast and Chris Reed (Jetski) are producing with Will Clarke, Andy Mayson and Mike Runagall exec producing for Altitude. O’Donnell said: “Who doesn’t want to explore a beautiful underwater shipwreck with smart, funny and gorgeous people as great white sharks try to tear them all to shreds? […]

Art Heist Thriller AMERICAN NIGHT Falls On Voltage This Month At Cannes

Lee B. Golden III

Voltage Pictures is dishing out a first look at American Night from writer/director Alessio Della Valle. The company, in its deal with ICM, has since acquired international rights to the art heist thriller starring Golden Globe-winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Elvis, “The Tudors”), Emile Hirsch (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Alpha Dog), Paz Vega (Rambo V, “The OA”), and Golden Globe and Emmy-winner Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”, The Kingdom, Sin City), which they will sell at the Cannes Market which launches on June 21. American Night follows Michael Rubino (Hirsch) who has just become the Don of the New York Mafia, but his greatest dream is to devote his life to painting and become a great artist. John Kaplan (Meyers), an art dealer, may feel like his life is in shambles, but he still has the best eye for spotting fakes in the world. Their paths, apparently distant, cross when Andy Warhol’s Pink […]

Horror Comedy VAL Debuts A First Look Photo Ahead Of The Cannes Market

Lee B. Golden III

Aaron Fradkin’s new horror comedy, Val, is scaring up some buzz on Wednesday with a first look photo which you can view below. The film, starring John Kapelos (Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy”), Kyle Howard (Paramount Pictures’ Orange County), SAG Award nominee Sufe Bradshaw (HBO’s “Veep,” Netflix’s Murder Mystery), Erik Griffin (Netflix’s The Sleepover), Misha Reeves (Electric Love), and Zachary Mooren (CBS’ “Criminal Minds”), and will have a release on digital through Epic’s horror shingle, Dread, on October 5. Epic will sell the film internationally at this year’s Marche Du Film. In this fun horror, FIN is a criminal on the run, wanted for the murder of his boss and the accidental shooting of an officer. He breaks into the home of a high-class escort, only to discover that you get more than you bargain for with VAL, short for “Valefar” – a demon who offers to make all his problems disappear if […]

DOOR MOUSE: Avan Jogia’s Debut Noir Finishes Filming For Highland Ahead Of World Sales

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Avan Jogia is ready for his close-up in the director’s chair following the April 12 production launch of his feature debut, Door Mouse. Highland Film Group is announcing the film’s completion and acquisition for world sales ahead of the Marche du Film. Door Mouse stars Hayley Law (Echo Boomers, Netflix’s Altered Carbon) and Keith Powers (Straight Outta Compton, What/If). Billed as a stylish neo-noir thriller, the film centers on Mouse (Law), an aspiring comic book artist stuck in a dead-end job working all-nighters at Mama’s Burlesque Club, doing nothing with her life and going nowhere. When a friend from work goes missing and the cops do nothing about it, Mouse and her sidekick, Ugly (Powers) take it upon themselves to find out what happened to her. What they discover is that corruption runs deep, monsters are real, and that sometimes, justice is meant to be taken into your own […]

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REFUGE: Voltage Takes World Sales For Renny Harlin Horror Thriller Now Filming

Lee B. Golden III

Principal photography is currently underway in Bulgaria for the new horror thriller, Refuge, from director Renny Harlin, and will be presented to buyers at the upcoming Marche du Film on June 21 with Voltage handling worldwide sales. Refuge centers on the horrific revelations that ensue when wife Kate discovers the truth behind her husband’s PTSD after he returns home, changed, from his tour in Afghanistan. The film stars Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Raza Jaffrey (“Homeland”) and Sophie Simnett (Netflix’s “Daybreak”), with Johanna Harlin (Class Reunion 3) and Aston McAuley (20th Century Fox’s Rocketman) from a script by action sci-fi writer Ben Sztajnkrycer, with more cast TBA. Refuge is a Revelations Entertainment and B2Y Production; Yariv Lerner (Hellboy, Rambo: Last Blood) and Rob Van Norden (Olympus Has Fallen, Rambo: Last Blood) are producing alongside Revelations Entertainment’s Gary Lucchesi (Underworld franchise, The Lincoln Lawyer), Michael McKay (Brahms: The […]

THE DOORMAN - Ruby Rose

THE YACHT: Voltage Nabs Rights For New Ruby Rose Action Thriller Ahead Of Cannes

Lee B. Golden III

Currently in post-production is Declan Whitebloom’s debut feature, The Yacht. The new action thriller starring Ruby Rose (The Doorman, Vanquish), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Daniel Isn’t Real, Echo Boomers) and Frank Grillo (Beyond Skyline, Boss Level) has been acquired by Voltage Pictures for international sales and will be presented to buyers at the upcoming Marché du film, which runs from June 21st through the 25th. Saban Films will release the film in the United States. Billed as a high-octane and tense action-thriller in the mold of Die Hard and Panic Room, The Yacht follows a tenacious and troubled young woman who inherits a luxury yacht from her estranged father and has to fight to survive when it gets hijacked by thieves. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands. […]

WARHUNT: Mauro Borelli’s Supernatural War Thriller Gets A First Look Ahead Of Cannes

Lee B. Golden III

Highland Film Group has revealed a first look photo from The Recall helmer Mauro Borrelli’s supernatural war thriller, Warhunt. Borrelli reteamed with The Recall co-scribe Reggie Keyohara III to pen the script for an all-star cast that lists Mickey Rourke (Sin City, Immortals, The Expendables, Iron Man 2) Robert Knepper (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and 2, Fox’s “Prison Break”), and Jackson Rathbone (The Twilight Saga, Paramount Pictures The Last Airbender, and MTV’s “Finding Carter”). In Warhunt, when Ruthless Major Johnson (Rourke) sends out a squad of his bravest soldiers (Rathbone, Knepper) on a dangerous rescue mission after the violent crash of a World War 2 cargo plane, they are soon attacked by a powerful, supernatural force. Fighting for their sanity and struggling to survive profound horrors, they must uncover the shocking truth behind the force before the Nazis, and remove all evidence that it ever existed, even at the […]

FANTASIA XXV: KAKEGURUI 2, INDEMNITY, NOT QUITE DEAD YET, KING CAR, CAUTION, HAZARDOUS WIFE And Much More As The First Wave Makes Its Way Online!

Lee B. Golden III

With Québécois zomcom Brain Freeze already lined-up for this year’s 25th film festival at Fantasia, the first official wave of titles is finally here with the second readying to announce next month, followed by the full programme in July, and it looks as promising as fans could hope. Tsutomu Hanabusa’s Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette is the first to note in the announcement below, as it’ll be joined by several more titles out of the Far East in accordance with the festival’s thematic focus this year, celebrating Japanese culture through film, per hints from Donald Caron’s poster design revealed last month. Fantasia 2021 will also maintain its virtual platform edge as it did last year through Festival Scope and Shift72, making its programme accessible to audiences across Canada from August 5 through August 25. That’s not to say the organization won’t try to get some in-person events going, which of […]

GOD OF WAR II Heads To Well Go USA For North America

Lee B. Golden III

In the midst of closing deals for this year’s virtual events at FilMart, Media Asia has sold North American rights to director Cai Cong’s God Of War 2, according to Variety on Thursday. The film is an indirect sequel to Gordon Chan’s 2017 period action thriller, God Of War, which starred Vincent Zhao as a general enlisted to help defeat the onslaught of Japanese pirates. The film also starred Sammo Hung and Yasuaki Kurata. Cong’s succsssor bills a cast headed by David Wu, Charles Lin and Liu Yuxi and centers on Lu Bu, a warlord who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty and, as reported by Screendaily last year during AFM, “whose life was dramatised in classic Chinese novel Romance Of The Three Kingdoms”. In times of war, the traitor Dou Zhun was in power and used poisonous poison to domesticate the medicine people. Yao Ren 19 escaped after a […]

AMERICAN BOOGEYWOMAN: Voltage Picks Up ‘Monster’ Prequel Starring ‘Cobra Kai’ Actress Peyton List

Lee B. Golden III

Actress Peyton List will lead the cast for American Boogeywoman, the new biographical crime thriller from director and celebrated horror guru Daniel Farrands (The Haunting of Sharon Tate, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers). Currently in post-production, the film is billed as a prequel to Patty Jenkins’s chilling 2003 drama, Monster, which won multiple Best Actress nominations and wins for Charlize Theron’s portrayal of late serial killer Aileen Wuornos. The logline reads: Based on Aileen Wuornos’s early life in 1976, the film follows America’s most notorious female serial killer in Florida when she marries a older wealthy Yacht Club president only to inflict mayhem within her new family and Florida’s high society. Rounding out the cast are veteran horror/thriller actor Tobin Bell (“Jigsaw” from the Saw franchise, Manson Family Vacation), Lydia Hearst (The Haunting of Sharon Tate), Nick Vallelonga (Universal’s Green Book), Swen Temmel (Twentieth Century Fox’s In Time, Lionsgate’s […]

THE POINT MEN: Hwang Jung-Min And Hyun Bin Team Up For Action-Packed Hostage Thriller Based On A True Story

Lee B. Golden III

Little Forest director Yim Soon-rye’s new ripped-from-the-headlines hostage thriller, The Point Men, is making waves in the markets lately with investor/distributor Megabox Plus M repping international sales. The film, starring Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin, has since sold to 14 terriories in Asia and the Southeast for banners Edko Films, Encore Films, Sahamongkol Film, Viva Networks and The Filmbridge, as reported via Screendaily at EFM. A group of Korean tourists is taken hostage by an extremist Taliban group in Afghanistan. The Korean government dispatches Jae-ho (HWANG Jung-min), known as one of Korea’s most skilled diplomats, in order to handle the situation. Once he arrives, he asks for the Afghan government’s cooperation and uses every means possible to free the hostages. However, his efforts go in vain. Due to his failure, he’s forced to work with Dae-sik (HYUN Bin), a special agent who is an expert on the Middle East. As […]

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MONKEY MAN: Netflix Scores Dev Patel’s Revenge-Driven Feature Directing Debut For 2022!

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man, will bow on Netflix in 2022 for most of the world excluding select terrories with pre-existing deals, according to Deadline‘s Andreas Wiseman. The report comes following the film’s recent completion in Indonesia, as highlighted in a recent Instagram post by the film’s stunt team. Footage was also screened for buyers at last week’s EFM, wherein one individual described it as “John Wick in Mumbai”, according to Wiseman. The film’s action was spearheaded by stunt coordinator Udeh Nans (Beyond Skyline, The Queen Of Black Magic), with fight choreography by Brahim Chab (The Driver, Abduction). Patel stars in the revenge thriller in which he plays “an unlikely hero who emerges from prison to take on a world enmeshed in corporate greed and eroding spiritual values, and seeking revenge from those who took everything from him years before.” The film also stars Sharlto Copley (District 9), […]

KOWLOON WALLED CITY: Max Zhang Leads Trio For Soi Cheang’s 80s-Set Martial Arts Gangland Manhwa Adaptation

Lee B. Golden III

Soi Cheang will direct Kowloon Walled City, an adaptation of the popular 2010 cult manhwa, “City Of Darkness”, from creators Andy Seto and “Yuyi”. As Screen‘s own Liz Shackleton reports that actors Max Zhang (The Brink), Louis Koo (Paradox) and Richie Jen (Bodies At Rest) will star in the film which is “set in the 1980s inside Hong Kong’s infamous walled city, which was demolished in 1993”; According to 88Bar‘s Jason Li in a 2018 review of the property, the initial story “…chronicles the fall and rise of prominent gangster and martial artist 陳洛軍 (“Lok”) as he goes into hiding in the Kowloon Walled City after a bitter fight with his former boss.” Wilson Yip (Ip Man franchise, Flashpoint SPL, Dragon Tiger Gate) is producing the film next to Media Asia’s John Chong, who was hands-on during last week’s virtual EFM, with Kowloon Walled City as one of multiple titles […]

ONE WAY (2021)

ONE WAY: Highland Scores Multiple World Sales On New Action Crime Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Zone 414 helmer Andrew Baird’s new action thriller, One Way, landed multiple deals on Tuesdsy. Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales rights on the film which stars Colson Baker, Kevin Bacon and Storm Reid. The latest round of international sales includes deals with Splendid Film (Germany and German-speaking Switzerland), Cinemundo (Portugal), Rialto Distribution (Australia and New Zealand), Blue Swan Entertainment (Italy), MCF (Ex-Yugoslavia), Just Media (Benelux), Monolith Films (Poland), MGN (Russia and Baltics), Eagle Films (Middle East), Moviecloud (Taiwan) and FilmFinity (South Africa). Thomasville Pictures is producing One Way which sees Baker in the role of Freddy, fatally wounded and on the run from his former employer’s cash after a robbery gone awry and managing to slip onto a one-way bus route. Betrayed by his father after a phone call for help and with very few options to survive, Freddy is forced to realize there is only “one way”. […]

GAIN-ING GROUND: A Word With Actor/Producer Daniel Stisen

Lee B. Golden III

Save for his physical action star appeal given the fruition he’s amassed as a professional bodybuilder, Daniel Stisen has every intent to prove his versatility as a well-rounded actor and producer of stories that compel and inspire, as well as entertain. Over the past week, I got acquainted with Stisen who’s own endeavors of late have seen him make the case to potential investors at this year’s virtual EFM, for projects hailing from his eponymous production banner. His latest shortfilm performance, Gain, is also making the rounds on YouTube – a gritty, NSFW dramatic thriller about the introspective perils of bodybuilding, and he’s currently shopping his newest lead role in action thriller, Last Man Down, on which he is finalizing post-production, along with another project with director Sheldon Lettich, which is currently listed on IMDb for those curious. Stisen reached out to us to share a dialogue and help get […]

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THE ROUNDUP: Don Lee Action Crime Sequel To ‘The Outlaws’ Now Filming

Lee B. Golden III

Production is currently underway for The Roundup, a sequel to Kang Yoon-sung’s 2017 action hit, The Outlaws. Lee Sang-young is making his debut at the helm for a returning cast that currently sees Don Lee (The Gangster. The Cop. The Devil., Unstoppable, Along With The Gods 2: The Last 49 Days, upcoming The Eternals), and the new addition of actor Son Suk-ku (Hit-And-Run Squad), with filming expected to wrap this summer. The first film saw Lee at the wheel as Ma Suk-do, a.k.a. “the Beast Cop”, heading a small anti-crime task force and dispensing justice amid warring gangs and the rise of a vicious crime boss in a South Korean Chinatown district in 2004. The Roundup sees Ma, front and center once more on a mission to Southeast Asia to extradite a suspect where a ruthless killer who has been targeting tourists for years emerges. “Buyers have been telling us […]

ONE WAY (2021)

ONE WAY: First Look At Colson Baker And Kevin Bacon As Father And Son In The New Action Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Currently in post-production is One Way, the new action thriller from Andrew Baird (Zone 414) and currently part of the package being presented to buyers at EFM. Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales for the pic for which they’ve now released a first look photo which you can above, featuring Colson Baker (The Dirt), and Kevin Bacon (Death Sentence). Baird directs from a script by Ben Conway One Way centers on Freddy (Baker), on the run with a bag full of cash after a robbery of his former crime boss goes awry. With a potentially fatal wound, he slips onto a bus with a one way ticket. After a call for help, Freddy’s estranged father (Bacon) betrays him, notifying the crime boss where he is. With his life slipping through his fingers, Freddy is left with very few choices to survive. There is only ONE WAY. One Way also stars […]