Berlin: Grindstone Picks Up ‘Ninth Passenger’ for North America (Exclusive)

Grindstone Entertainment has snatched Northern American rights to the upcoming thriller The Ninth Passenger, which is having its world market screening premiere in Berlin. 

Unveiled by Film Mode Entertainment, the movie — directed by It Follows executive producer Corey Large and starring Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas, Desperate Housewives), Tom Maden (Scream), Alexia Fast (Manhattan), Timothy V. Murphy (The Lone Ranger) and Cinta Laura Kiehl (After the Dark) — has also been picked up for Japan (Nikkatsu Films), the Middle East (Falcon Films) and Indonesia and Vietnam (Ram Entertainment). 

Ninth Passenger follows a group of college students on a spontaneous midnight sea voyage aboard a luxury yacht. The adventure turns horrific when they drift to a dark island and are hunted one by one by a mysterious passenger.

The acquisitions were announced by Clay Epstein’s Film Mode Entertainment, which is handling global sales. 

“We’re thrilled to announce sales across the world on this very special feature that will keep moviegoers captivated to the very end,” said Epstein. “The Ninth Passenger is a highly suspenseful film that global audiences have been craving, that works to raise the genre bar and has already enticed buyers from around the world. Not everyone is what they seem in this spine-tingling excursion.”

This story first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s Feb. 18 daily issue at the Berlin International Film Festival.