Latest in Acquisitions

Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Feral State, written and directed by Jon Carlo (First We Take Brooklyn) and starring AnnaLynne McCord and Ronnie Gene Blevins. The indie thriller, which wrapped shooting late last year, will now get a theatrical release in May along with its digital bow. The…

Two days after picking up Sundance's Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) has been picked up by Searchlight and Hulu. The acquisition of Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's directorial debut is for worldwide rights, parent company Disney says, in a deal put together…

Gravitas Ventures has picked up the North American rights for a day-and-date release of Insight, an action film produced and directed by Livi Zheng. Ken Zheng wrote the screenplay and stars alongside Madeline Zima, Sean Patrick Flanery, John Savage, Adam Huss, Tony Todd, and Keith David. Set to be released on March…

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to Tarzan and Arab Nasser’s Gaza Mon Amour, Palestine's official submission for Best International Feature at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film will be released later this year. Written and directed Tarzan and Arab Nasser, the film stars Salim Daw (Tel Aviv on Fir…

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has secured the North American distribution rights to Us Kids, the Kim A. Snyder-directed documentary, which chronicles the March For Our Lives student-led movement that was sparked by the plague of gun violence ravaging their schools. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival…

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Studios will team with 101 Films International to distribute Christian Sesma’s new action thriller Take Back. Directed by Sesma and written by Zach Zerries, the film stars Mickey Rourke, Michael Jai White, Gillian White and James Russo. Take Back follows Zara (White) and Brian (White), a couple…

Grand Central Publishing has landed the publishing rights to The Antisocial Network by New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich. In a preemptive deal, the acquisition was one of two non-fiction books GCP acquirred from Mezrich with the other going unnamed. The book will be published in hardcover, e-book and an…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is nearing a deal to acquire worldwide rights to Passing, the Rebecca Hall-directed and -scripted drama that stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Andre Holland and Alexander Skarsgard. Sources said the deal will land at around a $15.75 million. The drama is about two African-American women who can…

Participant, known for bolstering positive social change, said Tuesday it has partnered with Neon to co-distribute Jonas Poher Rasmussen's animated documentary Flee. Neon acquired the film after its debut on opening night of the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition lineup in a reported…

National Geographic Documentary Films said Tuesday that it has acquired Playing with Sharks, the feature documentary about Australian icon, conservationist and filmmaker Valerie Taylor that had its world premiere last week at the Sundance Film Festival. The pic is written and directed by Sally Aitken and is produced…

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Scott Steindorff and Dylan Russell's Stone Village Television has acquired the film and television rights to Alex Michaelides’ forthcoming novel The Maidens to develop as a premium television series. The story, set on the Greek island of Naxos and also in the town of Cambridge…

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of a hot 2020 which saw Blitz Bazawule’s Beyonce visual album Black Is King debut on Disney+, in addition to scoring the directing gig for The Color Purple feature musical, the filmmaker’s debut novel The Scent of Burnt Flowers has just been acquired by Ballantine Books. Senior Editor Chelcee…