The Marché du Film (Film Market) at Cannes 2017 has concluded and the most important Italian distribution companies have substantially increased their catalogue with several fruitful acquisitions. Here’s the most important acquisitions by Videa, Eagle Pictures, Draka Distribution and Koch Media.
VIDEA
Three titles for Videa: The Widow (Sierra/Affinity) by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire), a psychological thriller film starring Isabelle Huppert; C’est La Vie (Gaumont), a comedy film by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache (The Intouchables); The House That Jack Built (TrustNordisk) by Lars Von Trier, starring Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman.
EAGLE PICTURES
Eagle will distribute six films in collaboration with Leone Film Group: Landslide, starring Will Smith, a movie on the manhunt who founded ISIS, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; King of the Jungle by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, with Johnny Depp playing John McAfee, founder of the most famous antivirus software in the world, who decided to sell everything he had and move to the Belize jungle; Dumplin by Anne Fletcher, telling the story of an insecure teenage girl who joins a beauty pageant to win a boy over and gain respect for her mother, a former beauty pageant queen played by Jennifer Aniston; Freak Shift by Ben Wheatley, starring Alicia Vikander and Armie Hammer, a thriller film set in a future where men are hunted by monstrous creatures at nightfall; My Little Pony: The Movie, adapted from the animated series for kids My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; A Bad Moms Christmas, sequel of the comedy film Bad Moms by Scott Moore and Jon Lucas and played by Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahan and the new member of the cast Susan Sarandon.
Besides these titles, Eagle will distribute other features by its own: UnaBomb a Robert Lorenz film on the serial killer Theodore Kaczynski (played by Viggo Mortensen) who terrorized the United States for eighteen years; the comedy film Dead in a Week: Or Your Money Back by Tom Edmunds, starring Aneurin Barnard and Tom Wilkinson and the animated feature Two Tails.
DRAKA
Four acquisitions for Draka Distributions: Alone by David Moreau, an action fantasy film telling the story of Leia, a girl who wakes up one morning in a world where all the adults are disappeared from the Earth. The next film is the biopic Egon Schiele – Death and the Maiden by Dieter Berner and the female teen movie Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass (both films have been purchased by the German company Picture Tree). The last one is Big Fish and Begonia, acquired by the British company SC Films International, an animated film that has been successful for China (85 million dollars at the box office).
KOCH MEDIA
The Cannes Film Market has concluded with many important acquisitions for Koch Media too: Marry Me, Dude (working title) by and with Tarek Boudali is a French comedy film telling the story of Yassine, a Moroccan student who loses his visa and becomes an illegal immigrant due to a delay at a university examination. The only solution in mind is to plan a fake marriage with his best friend. Another comedy is Madame (working title) by Amanda Sthers, starring Toni Collette, Harvey Keitel, Rossy de Palma and Michael Smiley: an American couple moved to Paris set up a dinner with 13 people: after realising the number, the superstitious landlady convinces her maid to pretend to be a Spanish noblewoman.
There are two horror movies: Incident in a Ghost by Pascal Laugier, about two girls, both victims of abuse during their childhood, developing disturbed personalities in adulthood; The Bride by Svyatoslav Podgayevskiy, telling the story of Nastya, a woman who starts to be tormented by mysterious visions while she is planning her wedding at her fiancé’s house.
Another comedy film is Ron Goossens: Low Budget Stuntman by Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil, starring Tim Haars: Ron Goossens is a stuntman who must succeed in sleeping with a famous Dutch actress.
With regards to the animation films, Koch Media acquired a Disney Channel and Rai YoYo animated children’s television series, Pj Masks.
