After a slow start, the European Film Market is picking up pace as it enters the final stretch, with a series of big deals suggesting the upward trend seen at AFM and Sundance will continue in Berlin.
STXfilms closed one of the market’s biggest pre-buys, taking rights in North America, Latin America and China for a reported eight-figure sum for the star-studded action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake, inking a deal with Studiocanal and UTA Independent Film Group.
Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Paul Giamatti, Carla Gugino and Chloe Coleman star in the film about three generations of female assassins who, over the course of a single night, fight to stop a cycle of violence. Studiocanal has already pre-sold the rest of the world. STX took the film following a promo screening in Berlin.
Studiocanal’s Anna Marsh, Anne Cherel and Sophie Leuthreau negotiated the deal with STX’s Jordan Lichtman and Carolyn Steinmetz and UTA Independent Film Group.
Navot Papushado directs and co-wrote Gunpowder Millshake with Ehud Lavski. The film marks Papushado’s English-language debut as a director following his Israeli breakout film Big Bad Wolves.
Studiocanal financed Gunpowder Milkshake, which Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s the Picture Company produced. The pair are international action specialists with credits that include Liam Neeson starrers The Commuter and Non-Stop.
STX is thought to be planning a wide theatrical release for the film in the U.S. and will go through the company’s existing partners in Canada and Latin America and through a partner distributor in China.
