EFM 2018: Well Go USA Nabs BUYBUST For A 2018 Theatrical Release
BUYBUST locks in an INTERNATIONAL RELEASE!
BUYBUST locks in an INTERNATIONAL RELEASE!
Arend Remmers’s script enlists performances by Erkan Acar, Reza Brojerdi, Xenia Assenza, David Masterson and Alexander Schubert. Watch the trailer now.
Chris Coen (The Childhood of a Leader, Funny Games) is producing at Unanimous Entertainment with Rebecca Brown (In the Dark), and Alan Moloney (Mary Shelley, Siege of Jadotville) for Parallel Film Productions. IMR International is selling the film globally in Berlin with CAA and UTA retaining U.S. rights.
Mike Witherill (John Wick) and Mark Williams (The Accountant) will produce next to Paris Film Inc.’s Rob Paris for the film’s New Orleans shoot in April. Eastwood, who has appeared in several major franchise pics – namely DC adaptation Suicide Squad and Universal’s The Fate Of The Furious, headlines with John Boyega for Steven DeKnight’s March release of Pacific Rim: Uprising.
Zach Hagen is producing along with He Never Died executive producer David Miller, president at the newly-launched V71 Entertainment which is also selling the sequel at EFM this week.
Den Of Thieves 2 isn’t all that’s stirring this week for actor and producer Gerard Butler. Deadline broke news on Thursday for his latest attachment to new action thriller, Afterburn, based on the 2008 Red 5 Comics publication, and with none other than Korean stunt favorite Jung Byung-Gil set to direct as the start of a hopeful new franchise.
Butler will play a treasure hunter joined by a highly skilled weapons expert with an agenda of her own as they set out to collect and capitalize off of priceless artifacts in the wake of a massive solar flare that destroys all technology in Europe. Into The Blue scribe Matt Johnson is penning the script which will mind other storylines in the comics.
Original Film and Butler’s G-BASE banner are all producing along with Jung’s partner, Lewis Taewan Kim (Okja) and Endurance Media who is also financing. Steve Barnett and James Tomlinson are executive producing in addition to Christian Mercuri whose Capstone Group will be handling international sales in Berlin, as well as co-financing.
Jung is the celebrated stuntman cum helmer of such hits as Confessions Of A Murderer and festival favorite, The Villainess. Afterburn is eyeing a summer start as production nears for Ric Roman Waugh’s Angel Has Fallen with Butler starring.
The mega success of David Sandberg’s crowdfunded, stylish martial arts love letter to the 80’s Kung Fury, has opened the floodgates in fine form. The very shortfilm in question is the subject of the bustling news out of Berlin this week as Sandberg readies production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie with several big names attached, including that of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Hollywood Reporter notes.
The Maggie and Aftermath star is set to be joined by the newly added Michael Fassbender and David Hasselhoff with Sandberg directing as well as reprising in the title role. Sandberg is producing via his Laser Unicorns label with Fassbender next to It producers David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith at KatzSmith Productions with Aaron Schmidt. Also producing are Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan with Pelle Strandberg executive producing on behalf of Laser Unicorns.
Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s fantasy fervor, Sandberg leads the intial short as Kung Fury, a hard-edged Miami cop imbued with the powers of kung fu and forced to fight his way from the Viking Age and back to the future to kill Adolf Hitler once and for all. The sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie, sets in 1985 and sees our hero traveling time and space to reunite Miami’s ultimate police force, The Thundercops, and working through tragedy to save his friends and defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy from Adolf Hitler and the mystery villain aiding him.
Schwarzenegger is best known for contributing to some of the biggest and best action titles of the 80s and 90s. The actor and former California governor is also in tow with Oleg Stepchenko’s Journey To China, as well as forthcoming roles in Amazon shows The Legend Of Conan and Outrider, and Deadpool helmer Tim Miller’s forthcoming revival of the Terminator.
Production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie will set forth in the U.S. and Europe. Bloom is selling the film internationally at EFM.
Announcements out of Berlin are hailing Zach Golden’s latest crime comedy, The Escape Of Prisoner 614, as it screens this week at EFM. Film Mode Entertainment has sold the film to Saban Films for its U.S. release with a cast that includes Golden Globe Winner Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hand of God) and Martin Starr (Knocked Up).
After being fired by their overbearing Sheriff, two well-intentioned but simple-minded Sheriff’s Deputies, decide to go after an escaped prisoner in hopes of getting their jobs back. But when they realize that the supposed murderer they have hunted down is an innocent victim of a racist judicial system, they face a moral dilemma — return the prisoner and be hailed as heroes, or act on their principles in pursuit of true justice.
Golden has several credits behind the lens while The Escape Of Prisoner 614 will serve as his debut. He wrote the script with Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman (Shotgun) and Shaun Sanghani (Blood Heist) producing.
“We are extremely excited to announce the North American sale of THE ESCAPE OF PRISONER 614” Said Clay Epstein, President of Film Mode Entertainment. “Saban Films is the perfect home for this dynamic film with fantastic performances. We look forward to the global marketplace sharing the same enthusiasm once they see the film in Berlin.
“We are so happy that Saban Films is as passionate about this film as we are and will be supporting it with a significant theatrical release,” commented Jordan Yale Levine. “Zach, Ron, Martin and our entire cast and crew created a film that’s unique and exciting, and we can’t wait for audiences around the world to see it.”
The deal was negotiated between Clay Epstein, President of Film Mode Entertainment, Nick Ogiony, Film Finance Agent for Creative Artists Agency and Jonathan Saba, Senior Vice President of Saban Films. Film Mode is holding screenings for buyers on Thursday, February 15, and Sunday, February 18.
Much buzz from EFM surrounding the project is detailed over at Variety describing as something of a war western hybrid adventure pic, with Filmax sales head Ivan Díaz, adding the following:
It was on Sunday that actor, producer and filmmaker David Sandberg teased forthcoming announcements for the long-awaited sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie. His social media posts on Twitter and Instagram featured conceptual artwork by Ivan Reiss, Marcelo Maiolo, Josan Gonzales, and Alexis Ziritt along with mentions of certain producers now tied to official trade news confirmed as of Monday about the upcoming summer shoot.
Word has it that Michael Fassbender is joining the film in an undisclosed role along with actor David Hasselhoff who sang the theme to the 2015 shortfilm that successfully blew past its Kickstarter goals a few years earlier, now with more than 40 million views in its wake before confirming a feature film effort in summer of 2016. Bloom is handling international sales at EFM this week with Endeavor Content and CAA repping North America.
Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s cult fantasy fervor, Sandberg leads the intial short as Kung Fury, a hard-edged Miami cop imbued with the powers of kung fu and forced to fight his way from the Viking Age and back to the future to kill Adolf Hitler once and for all. The sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie, sets in 1985 and sees our hero traveling time and space to reunite Miami’s ultimate police force, The Thundercops, and working through tragedy to save his friends and defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy from Hitler and the mystery villain aiding him.
Sandberg is producing via his Laser Unicorns label with Fassbender next to It producers David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith at KatzSmith Productions with Aaron Schmidt. Also producing are Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan with Pelle Strandberg executive producing on behalf of Laser Unicorns.
Director Roel Reine has been hard at work following up on films like The Admiral and Marvel’s The Inhumans, here and now with big scale sword-and-shield Viking pic, Redbad. The film is on track to screen a small portion for buyers at the upcoming European Film Market while Screendaily exclusively confirmed a U.S. pick-up by Epic Pictures distrib branch, Epic Releasing.
The Admiral scribe Alex van Galen’s script sets the tone for the Norse war tale set in the 8th century amid Northern Europe where the Frisian king (Gijs Naber – The Heineken Kidnapping, Penoza) is blamed for his father’s death and the invasion of the Frankish army, and is subsequently cast away by his own people. Time away sees him marry a Viking princess before returning to his homeland to settle the score with ambitious warlord Pepijn van Herstal (Jonathan Banks – Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) and save his family once and for all.
“Roel Reine is one of the best action directors in the film business and Jonathan Banks gives the performance of his career,” Patrick Ewald, CEO of Epic Pictures, told ScreenDaily. “When Danielle Raaphorst and Incredible showed us early footage of the battle scenes and the impressive large-scale production value, we knew that Redbad was destined to become an Epic Release.”
Prior to North America, sales agent Incredible Films had already Redbad to Spain (ADSO), France (First International Production), South Korea (Movement Pictures), Netherlands and Germany (Splendid) and to the Middle East (SRND). A Dutch release is in tow for June thusfar while further dates and details remain pending.
A teaser has already been available since December and while Incredible Films will be showing its own footage privately at Berlin, the teaser below should suffice plenty.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Fyzz Facility’s Mark Lane, James Harris, Wayne Marc Godfrey and Robert Jones will produce alongside Embargo Films, with production scheduled to begin in July 2018 in the U.K. The film marks the latest for the company after hitting big last year with 47 Meters Down and Chan/Brosnan thriller, The Foreigner, while entailing its Berlin market slate with upcoming thrillers such as Three Seconds starring Altered Carbon star Joel Kinnaman, Entebbe star Rosamund Pike and John Wick: Chapter 2 co-star Common, and Final Score with fellow burgeoning film star Dave Bautista.