Wrekin Hill and movie merchandising powerhouse National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) are teaming up to distribute four to five titles theatrically each year.
Spencer Susser’s Hesher, which screened last night at the South by Southwest Film Festival Sunday, will be the first film to be released and marketed theatrically. The film, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson, opens in major markets across the country May 13.
Wrekin Hill and NECA also will distribute Alexandre O. Phillipe’s documentary comedy The People Vs George Lucas and writer/director J.B. Ghuman Jr’s musical comedy Spork later this year.
“The Wrekin Hill team has built a reputation working on such classic indie films as Memento, Donnie Darko, The Prestige and Boondock Saints films that helped ignite the ‘Fanboy’ culture that now dominates the mainstream. The partnership of Wrekin Hill and NECA will create an unprecedented presence within the marketplace: genuine, trusted voices introducing films to the Fanboy community and guiding the conversation about them, from the earliest press announcement through the on-going life of the brand. We are thrilled to be launching this partnership with Spencer Susser’s fantastic film HESHER,” Wrekin Hill president and CEO Chris Ball said in a statement Monday.
Wrekin Hill and NECA also announced plans to launch a new genre label, Underhill Films, for DVD and VOD titles. The first acquisitions include Suri Krishnamma’s thriller Locked In, starring Ben Barnes and Elza Dushku, and writer/director Brian A. Metcalf’s fantasy horror film Fading of the Cries, starring Brad Dourif.
