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Nicolas Cage’s PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND Sets Sono Sion’s English Debut

It’s pretty much Nicolas Cage’s world and were all just living in it.

Indeed, that makea three headlines this week for the upcoming 211 star whose latest attachment comes by way of Japanese auteur Sono Sion’s new post-apcolyptic actioner, Prisoners Of The Ghostland, which XYZ Films has included in its sales raft at Cannes. News comes just a day following Cage’s attachment to Millenium’s forthcoming detective noir thriller, Kill Chain.

Sono, the acclaimed helmer of such favorites as Love Exposure, Tokyo Tribe and Why Don’t You Play In Hell will make his English language debut from a script by Aaron Hendry and Reza Sixo Safai. As Patrick Hipes at Deadline reports, Prisoners Of The Ghostland sees Cage in the role of notorious criminal Hero, who is sent to rescue an abducted girl who has disappeared into a dark supernatural universe. They must break the evil curse that binds them and escape the mysterious revenants that rule the Ghostland, an East-meets-West vortex of beauty and violence.

Safai is producing via his Black Light District Entertainment next to Laura Rister of Untitled Entertainment, Eleven Arts’ own Ko Mori, and Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films.

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The Official Trailer For ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE Attacks The Undead With Song, Dance And Holiday Cheer!

Not to be undone by its own recent internal misgivings, Fantastic Fest is embracing its week-long run starting tomorrow with its usual diverse, wacky, bizzare and enthralling line-up of great titles from around the world. Jon McPhail’s latest comes from Scotland with Friday’s forthcoming festival premiere in tow for Anna And The Apocalypse which stars Ella Hunt in the title role with more on the film from former festival programmer Todd Brown:

Teenage Anna’s life is typical enough. Chafing against the narrow horizons of her small town, she dreams of bigger things. It’s not so much that she doesn’t love her friends and family — she does — it’s just that they’re all so… familiar. So typical. So predictable. Her childhood best friend aches for a romance that she has no interest in, no matter how close they might be. The school jock that she had a fling with is proving to be disappointingly predictable in his behavior. And it’s becoming progressively harder for Anna to conceal her disappointment with just how satisfied her widower-father is with the blue collar simplicity of his never-changing existence. And then it all goes to shit. 

The night of the high school Christmas concert marks the arrival of the undead in Anna’s small town. And so begins a struggle to band together and survive. Future dreams are forced aside by the overwhelming need to survive the present in this winning Scottish musical-horror-comedy. 

Yes, we said musical. And we mean it. John McPhail’s feature has its origins in Ryan McHenry’s BAFTA-nominated short film titled simply ZOMBIE MUSICAL. And while every film needs to stand purely on its own terms, there’s no getting around the fact that this particular film’s origins add an extra layer of poignancy to the whole affair. 

Following the success of his short film, McHenry set to work on writing the script and music for the feature expansion. McHenry was well on the road to making the feature version when — still in his mid-twenties — he was diagnosed with cancer. He would achieve viral fame as the creator of the “Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal” videos on Vine while in the hospital before losing his battle. McHenry’s sense of humor thrived even as his body failed. 

Honoring McHenry’s wishes, producer Naysun Alae-Carew refused to let the project die with its creator. Enter rising star John McPhail, whose deft directorial touch crafts what now stands as both Anna and McHenry’s statement on their own impending mortality and their stubborn refusal to let it end them even as it claims them.

The new zombie musical hails from Blazing Griffin and Parkhouse Pictures with a script by Alan McDonald and Ryan McHenry, and scoring by Roddy Hart and Tommy Riley. AMP International handles the film sales internationally with XYZ Films representing domesitc.

Deadline has since exclusively debuted the first official trailer as of Wednesday which joins Hunt with Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Marli Siu, Ben Wiggins, Mark Benton and Paul Kaye. Check it out below.

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FIVE FINGERS OF MARSEILLES Scores A First Trailer For The South African Western Thriller

South African premiere Western thrills are abound for folks keen on attending this year’s 41st Toronto International Film Festival. Hailing from Be Phat Motel Film Company and Game 7, Michael Matthews is emerging this year for his directorial feature debut  Five Fingers Of Marseilles following a decade-long effort and now has an official trailer to show for its efforts from a script by Sean Drummond who produced the film with Matthews, and with Asger Hussain and Yaron Schwartzman.

Twenty years ago, the young ‘Five Fingers’ fought for the rural town of Marseilles, against brutal police oppression. Now, after fleeing in disgrace, Tau returns, seeking peace. Finding the town under new threat, he must reluctantly fight to free it. Will the Five Fingers stand again?

‘Five Fingers for Marseilles’ fuses western influences, from classic to spaghetti and revisionist eras, into a contemporary South African drama played in local tongue by four generations of acclaimed South African stars. The great westerns always contained socio-political threads, and Five Fingers’ loose allegory on today’s South Africa is edge-of-the-seat, and starkly human.

Rounding out the cast are Vuyo Dabula, Hamilton Dhlamini, Zethu Dlomo, Kenneth Nkosi, Mduduzi Mabaso, Aubrey Poolo, Lizwi Vilakazi, Warren Masemola, Dean Fourie, Anthony Oseyemi, Brendon Daniels and Jerry Mofokeng along with Toka Mtabane, Vuyo Novokoza, Ntsika Tiyo, Sibusiso Bottoman, Abongile Sithole, Qhawe Soroshi. XYZ Films is representing the movie internationally as further news awaits on territorial releases. (ScreenAnarchy)

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XYZ Films Picks Up Cambodian Martial Arts Comedy, JAILBREAK

It was only a matter of time before we heard more from the happenings over at Kongchak Pictures who have been hitting the festival pavement this year for the new action comedy, Jailbreak. The film, directed by Jimmy Henderson and produced by Loy Te, made waves over at Hong Kong FilMart where it nabbed distribution in Korea following its local Cambodian release in January, and has since screened for attendees at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy in the past week.

The film stars martial arts exponents, actors Jean-Paul Ly, Dara Our and actress Tharothoum Sam, actor Savin Philip and debut feature film actress Céline Tran in the story of a tactical police escort unit who find themselves trapped inside a prison and forced to protect a notorious key witness from the deadly onslaught of inmates and the murderous Butterfly Gang who have descended from outside. Featuring action sequences choreographed by Ly with brilliant lensing by Godefroy Ryckewaert, the film has stood resonant among fans largely with its action sequences reflective of 2011 thriller, The Raid and its 2014 sequel, which best explains why it probably caught the attention of XYZ Films who have officially been announced as the key international sales reps and likely distributors for its U.S. release.

A due date remains pending while plans for a sequel continue to brew until validity with Henderson possibly back at the helm. Expect further trade news and official statements to confirm more details after this. (Source)

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Gareth Huw Evans Plots 2017 Start Date For Period Thriller, APOSTLE

A third outing for stellar crime feature saga, The Raid, still remains on hold in addition to whatever else director Gareth Huw Evans has in tow from here on out. Gladly that hasn’t kept him down from applying himself on paper and with that, he is now poised to begin filming a new period thriller starting in the UK in March.

Apostle is the name of the film while in the auspices of XYZ Films will will introduce the film to the American Film Market this week for buyers while producing. THR reports on the film whose story sees a mysterious man on a mission to rescue his sister from a religious cult demanding ransom, digging deeper to uncover its the lies and secrets in the process.

The film definitely sounds like a different tone from what Evans is usually known for having applied himself so vehemently with martial arts fans with the aforementioned action franchise, as well as the 2009 film, Merantau. Evans was also working on a script for another actioner titled Blister which he completed nearly a year ago prior to unveiling a refreshing, experimental black-and-white samurai action shortfilm with actress Hannah Al-Rashid, and actors Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman.

It’s anyone’s guess at this point as to when the director will return to the MA genre, although Apostle reads like a terrific, albeit thrilling change of pace. The plot itself sounds intense and I look forward to seeing who leads the way in casting. Evans is also producing Apostle via his More One Productions along with Severn Screen.

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Maori Period Action Epic THE DEAD LANDS Reveals New Pics!

The epic production of director Toa Fraser‘s new film, The Dead Lands, is sparking some amazing new coverage this week since wrapping principal photography earlier this year. The film, which is being handled by international sales agents at XYZ Films is poised to be the latest thrilling new look into a genuine Maori-language period tale of revenge and redemption from writer Glenn Standring, with Maori martial art form Mau rākau, as the backbone of the intricate and exciting new fight choreography from Steve McQuillan (The Gunman, Slow West).

SYNOPSIS:

Hongi (James Rolleston) – a Maori chieftain’s teenage son – must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains, led by Wirepa (Te Kohe Tuhaka), Hongi’s only hope is to pass through the feared and forbidden Dead Lands and forge an uneasy alliance with the mysterious “Warrior” (Lawrence Makoare), a ruthless fighter who has ruled the area for years.

Now in post production, Twitchfilm is debuting six new photos and stills from the upcoming film which you can check out below.

Stay excited, and by all means, stay tuned for more updates!

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No One Escapes In This NSFW, Explosive, Violent Deleted Scene From THE RAID 2

This is one of a few deleted scenes taken from the film. Reasons to cut were entirely down to pacing issues. This was probably the hardest for me to cut due to the fact that the production on this scene lasted around 6 days of shooting, it cost us a fuck load to make and it served to escalate the gang war out onto the streets involving people outside of the closed off inter-gang politics. 

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Marko Zaror Counts His Blessings With Bullets In The Upcoming Production Of Assassin Thriller, REDEEMER

Marko Zaror Counts His Blessings With Bullets In The Upcoming Production Of Assassin Thriller, REDEEMER

Los Angeles, CA (March 17, 2014) – XYZ Films has announced that they will be executive producing and handling sales for the Spanish-language martial arts actioner REDEEMER (Redentor), which is headlined by Chilean action star Marko Zaror. Written and directed by Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, the film marks the fourth time that Espinoza and Zaror have worked together since 2006.  It was produced by Espinoza, Zaror and Diego Moral Heimpell and is executive produced by XYZ Films. The film will begin principal photography on March 24th in Chile.    

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'The Expendables 3' Director Being Named To Helm THE RAID Remake!

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With writer and director Gareth Evans ramping up efforts to promote the forthcoming March 28, 2014 release of The Raid 2: Berandal, what is still left in the air is the issue of whether or not action star Sylvester Stallone’s August release, The Expendables 3, will actually “raid” The Raid as he so described it on Twitter last year. Regardless though, it seems all the talk of raiding everything has put The Expendables 3 helmer Patrick Hughes in a bigger light as reports indicate that the director is now being tapped to direct Screen Gems’s upcoming remake of The Raid, which is being penned by Out Of The Furnace co-scribe Brad Inglesby.

Talk of the American remake has gone on for quite a while since the success of Evans‘s film which released in 2011 and made its way overseas the following year, launching actor and martial arts action hero Iko Uwais to superstardom since their first director/star pairing in the 2009 film, Merantau. And with the American remake now on the way, fans of the franchise can only speculate which actors can capture the essence of the original characters, including brothers Rama and Andi, (intially played by Uwais and actor Donny Alamsyah), brothers on two sides of the law when a police raid unfolds in a 15-story apartment building that becomes ground zero for a deadly and bloody war with the city’s most notorious crimelord, leading to more questions about just why they are there in the first place.

Ironically, reports also indicate that actor brothers, The Expendables 2 co-star Liam Hemsworth and Thor star Chris Hemsworth are now being mentioned through the grapevine to possibly portray those roles in the remake, which still begs the question that considering the stellar performances by the original film’s Indonesian martial arts cast, including that of Fast And Furious 6 co-star and Judo expert Joe Taslim and Silat impressario Yayan Ruhian, just who can suit the role of repsective characters like Jaka and Mad Dog. In that case, there are plenty of names to go around that could suit an American remake of this very nature considering size, height and skillset as issues-names like Marko Zaror, Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins (…ahem!), either of which who could bode well for the vision of the action sequences by a certain familiar stunt coordinator out there; the list goes on, of course.

At any rate though, our friends at XYZ Films are on hand to produce this one with Gareth Evans serving as executive producer.

So, yes, sometime between now and after the August 15, 2014 release of The Expendables 3, this is happening. And if all else works out and fans support this inspired cult favorite, Hollywood may very well be able to replicate the franchise success of its own, much like the one currently being had by Evans with the release of his sequel just five weeks from now.

Stay tuned for more information.

H/T: The Wrap

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Check Out This Bloody Set Photo From THE DEAD LANDS

The #DeadLandsMovie crew are having a bloody good time in New Zealand pic.twitter.com/Z8z5LULG6A
— XYZ Films (@XYZFilms) January 9, 2014

XYZ Films took to Twitter this week to share a new photo above, updating the progress on the New Zealand filming of director Toa Fraser‘s coming-of-age period revenge epic, The Dead Lands. A little help from XYZ executive Simon de Bruyn clarifies the item in the picture is called a “patu parāoa”, one of several types of patu representing the ancient weaponry of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Further Googling details that this particular kind of weapon, carved from whalebone, would be used to bludgeon an enemy’s head, or thrust into the ribs or jaw.

Weaponry, of course, is one of several elements that will be emphasized in depicting an ancient style of Maori martial arts in Fraser‘s new film, with the aid of stunt coordinator Steve McQuillan (Spartacus, The Warrior’s Way, The Lord Of The Rings). XYZ Films is reportedly playing a key role with Fraser, producers Matthew Metcalfe and screenwriter Glenn Standring, and McQuillan, to help deliver and introduce the style of Maori hand-to-hand fighting in the same fashion that helped launch director Gareth Evans and action star Iko Uwais into the global spotlight with the success of The Raid: Redemption and its forthcoming sequel in March, The Raid 2: Berandal.

Recently wrapped from filming with worldwide sales rights already attributed to XYZ Films for most territories, The Dead Lands centers around the story of a chieftain’s teenage son, the sole survivor of the traitorous slaughter of his family and entire tribe, who journeys to a forbidden and feared land to seek the reluctant aid of its keeper, a mysterious “warrior”, to help avenge his people and bring peace and honor to their souls. James Rolleston stars along with Lawrence Makoare, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Xavier Horan, George Henare and Rena Owen.

Stay tuned for more

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