At long last, director Christian Gudegast’s highly anticipated Den Of Thieves sequel has an official with Den Of Thieves: Pantera, currently making the sales rounds at Cannes for eOne’s Sierra/Affinity. The sequel was announced last February in the weeks that followed the first film’s January rollout from STXfilms, firstly developing in 2003 between a few studios.
Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants, Fox Seachlight’s upcoming Downhill) are set to reunite with fellow Academy Award-winners Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney (The Way Way Back) for new movie, The Heart, which rolls cameras at the end of the year. The two actors will be joined by Academy award-winning Octavia Spencer (The Shape Of Water, Hidden Figures), from an original script by Faxon and Nash.
Elsa Keslassy first broke the news at Variety back in January about the film centered on a band or female Kurdish warriors from varying backgrounds.
Tim Sutton’s previous writing/directing credits include the critically acclaimed Memphis (2013) and Dark Knight (2016), which premiered last year at Sundance before screening at both Venice and AFI Fest.
Sierra/Affinity, home to hits like Drive and spy thriller Atomic Blonde and has since added upcoming horror thriller, Haunt, to its catalogue with production now underway in Kentucky. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (upcoming A Quiet Place) share writing and directing duties with a cast that includes Katie Stevens (Freeform’s The Bold Type) and Will Brittain (Kong: Skull Island, Everybody Wants Some) along with Lauryn Alisa McClain, Andrew Caldwell, and Shazi Raja.
Sierra/Affinity has entered into a first-look agreement with the prolific production company SMB Films, founded and run by Scott Bernstein who spent ten years as a successful executive at Universal Pictures before launching the company in 2014. The agreement calls for Sierra/Affinity to be SMB’s first stop as it develops and produces feature films for a global audience. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Sierra/Affinity’s Nick Meyer and Marc Schaberg, and Bernstein.
“As both a seasoned executive and producer, Scott has a strong track record of identifying material that resonates worldwide and distilling it into a feature film product that appeals to audiences both domestically and abroad,” said Meyer. “Combining Scott’s talents with Sierra’s strength as a producer, financier, and sales entity, presents a potent content generating combination.”
Bernstein added, “The commitment Nick and Marc have shown up to supporting strong filmmakers and storytellers has been paramount to Sierra/Affinity’s success. I see this as an opportunity to join forces with one of the most prolific companies to create inspiring stories done by today’s leading filmmakers. I am looking forward to building a slate of films that supports Sierra/Affinity’s global outlook and commercial sensibility that they’ve shown with the success of Atomic Blonde.”
Bernstein launched SMB Films in 2014 and has since produced several successful films including the commercially and critically acclaimed music bio pic Straight Outta Compton about N.W.A along with founding members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube that grossed over $200 in worldwide box office. He also produced Ride Along 2 starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube that grossed over $130mm at the box office. He is currently producing The Turning at Amblin with Floria Sigismondi attached to direct. SMB Films, along with Harvey Mason, has also acquired the life rights to Aretha Franklin, and SMB acquired the life rights to Pete Rose with Middleton Media Group.
Before SMB FILMS, Bernstein served as Executive Vice President of Universal Pictures for 10 years where he oversaw production on Ride Along, Andy Muschietti’s breakout hit Mama, Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy’s Identity Thief, Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army based on the supernatural Dark Horse character, the comedy Role Models starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, and The Break-Up starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. Prior to Universal Pictures, Bernstein served as an executive at Revolution Studios and at Lionsgate Films where he oversaw production on the commercially and critically acclaimed film Monsters Ball starring Halle Berry for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The film marks a sophomore effort for Metz whose narrative feature debut sports drama, Borg/McEnroe, starring Tom Hiddleston and Shia LeBeouf will have its Opening Night Gala world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday. Gary Foster (Denial, The Soloist, Ghost Rider), Russ Krasnoff (Denial, The Soloist), Mark Roberts (Strangers With Candy, Danika), and Kelly McCormick (Atomic Blonde) are producing with Sierra/Affinity’s Nick Meyer and Marc Schaberg executive producing alongside Adrienne Maloof and David Broome.
Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Arrival, The Last King Of Scotland) has been tapped to join actor Theo James in the new action thriller, How It Ends. A Single Shot and The Perfect Man helmer David M. Rosenthal directing from a script by Brooks McLaren.
James, best known for roles in the Underworld and Divergent franchises, was announced earlier this week in an exclusive at Deadline for the film which tells of young father who will stop at nothing to get home to his pregnant wife on the other side of the country as a mysterious apocalyptic event turns the roads into mayhem. The film was acquired by Netflix as of January and is set to start production in Winnipeg, Canada in July.
Paul Schiff, Tai Duncan, Kelly McCormick, and Patrick Newall and Sierra/Affinity developed the project with Paul Schiff Productions, and is handling worldwide sales and financing of the film. Sierra’s Nick Meyer and Marc Schaberg are executive producing.
Whitaker’s next scheduled theatrical appearance will be Marvel’s Black Panther on February 16, 2018. He is represented by WME and Brillstein.
If you’re at all drawn to high-powered family dramas, Khalil Barnett’s recent review of Kenneth Lonergan’s new movie, Manchester By The Sea should serve you with ample perspective. The film is currently the subject of The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford star Casey Affleck’s Best Actor win at the Oscar’s on Sunday night and for that matter, we now bring you word of his latest forthcoming endeavor, survival thriller Light Up My Life which is now filming in Vancouver.
Affleck is starring, as well as writing and directing the film which joins the actor with actress Anna Pniowsky for the story of a father and daughter whose bond is strenuously tested while living on the outskirts of society in the wake of a deadly global pandemic and the extensive dangers within. Teddy Schwarzman is producing via his Black Bear Pictures banner, which is also financing the project with Sierra/Affinity reporting successful strong sales rights as listed: Anton Corp. for Asia (Multi-Territory), The Searchers for Benelux, Elevation for Canada, Italia for Greece, India, Middle East and Turkey, Metropolitan Filmexport for France, Myndform for Iceland, Notorious for Italy, Kino Films for Japan, Mis. Label for Scandinavia, Ster Kinekor for South Africa, Main Title for South Korea and M Pictures for Thailand.
“Congratulations to Casey for his Oscar win for MANCHESTER BY THE SEA! It is well deserved and we are proud to have been along for the ride on that film as well as his next project LIGHT OF MY LIFE,” said Nick Meyer, CEO of Sierra/Affinity. “LIGHT OF MY LIFE is an incredibly powerful film that touches on universal issues and emotions, and with Casey not only starring, but writing and directing, this film has the pedigree to entice audiences worldwide.”
Affleck’s role in Manchester By The Sea which also stars Kyle Chandler and Michelle Williams, also earned the actor a Film Independent Spirit Award as well as Golden Globe® and BAFTA awards. In addition to Light Up My Life, Affleck will also set to star in the new thriller, Villain, from his own script with Black Bear produce as well with Sierra/Affinity handling international sales.
Feel free to browse online for various online forums and opinions following last year’s premiere of award-winning director Terry George’s latest, The Promise. Otherwise, Open Road is stamping an April release in the U.S. with Canada and select territories in Europe courtesy of eOne, and with none other than Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac and Charlotte Le Bon.
Sierra/Affinity will be handling international sales for the film as included in the following announcement released ahead of festival events in Berlin. Read on:
SIERRA/AFFINITY TO HANDLE INTERNATIONAL SALES FOR TERRY GEORGE’S THE PROMISE
STARRING OSCAR ISAAC, CHARLOTTE LE BON AND CHRISTIAN BALE
Film Will Be Released Wide in the US by Open Road on April 21, 2017
Entertainment One will Theatrically Distribute the Film in Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain
LOS ANGELES January 17, 2017 – Sierra/Affinity will launch international sales for THE PROMISE starring Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ex-Machina, Drive), Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred Foot Journey, The Walk) and Academy Award® winner Christian Bale (The Big Short, American Hustle, The Fighter, The Dark Knight Trilogy). The film, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, is written by Academy Award nominee Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Memoirs of a Geisha, Little Women) and Academy Award winner Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, The Boxer, In the Name of the Father), who also directed this epic tale. Open Road will release the film wide in the US on April 21, 2017 on over 2,000 screens, with Sierra/Affinity launching international sales of the film immediately.
Entertainment One (eOne) will distribute the film in Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain as part of its partnership with Sierra/Affinity which commenced early last year.
“Robin and Terry’s story, so well told through the solid performances of Oscar, Christian and Charlotte, conveys a larger social message that will have a lasting impact of those who see it,” said Nick Meyer, CEO of Sierra/Affinity. “We are proud to be bringing this film to audiences around the world and I am particularly pleased to be re-teaming with Terry George after a great experience working together on Hotel Rawanda.”
Along with Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale, THE PROMISE also stars Shohreh Aghdashloo (Rosewater, Septembers Of Shiraz, X-Men, House of Sand and Fog), Angela Sarafyan (Westworld, The Immigrant, Paranoia), Jean Reno (Hotel Rwanda, The Professional), James Cromwell (The Green Mile, The Queen), Daniel Giminez Cacho (Y Tu Mamá También, Bad Education) and Marwan Kenzari (Autobahn, Ben-Hur).
It is 1914. As the Great War looms, the vast Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople, the once vibrant, multicultural capital on the shores of the Bosphorus, is about to be consumed by chaos.
Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to Siroun, his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries.
Photo-journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father. When Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. As the Turks form an alliance with Germany and the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities, their conflicting passions must be deferred while they join forces to survive even as events threaten to overwhelm them.
Academy Award nominee Mike Medavoy (Black Swan, Shutter Island, Zodiac), William Horberg (Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sliding Doors, Searching for Bobby Fischer) and Eric Esrailian produced the film. The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
ABOUT SIERRA/AFFINITY LLC
Sierra/Affinity is a leading independent film finance, production and foreign sales company, consistently delivering high-quality, commercially viable feature films for a global audience. Sierra/Affinity capitalizes on the ever-evolving global film marketplace, representing sales of third-party films as well as its own productions designed to appeal to both the North American and global marketplaces. In addition to representing sales of third party films, the company acts as the exclusive sales agent for films developed and produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Bold Films and Sierra Pictures. Following Entertainment One’s (eOne) strategic equity investment in Sierra Pictures in January 2016, the international sales and distribution of films produced and acquired by eOne Features, as well as eOne-distributed films from The Mark Gordon Company, will be handled by Sierra/Affinity outside of Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain, where eOne directly distributes films. The company is also compiling a slate of wide-release, director-driven commercial films with domestic and global appeal that will complement the slates built by its partners.
ABOUT SURVIVAL PICTURES
Survival Pictures was established in 2012 by the late legendary businessman and humanitarian Kirk Kerkorian – who appointed his mentees Esrailian and Anthony Mandekic as co-managers. With a mission of creating unique and specific content with social impact, Esrailian and his team at Survival Pictures developed and produced The Promise.
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