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CANNES 2013 Market / USA

Polanski's Venus among Lionsgate's successful sales in Cannes

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- The competition entry Venus in Fur by Roman Polanski set to screen this Saturday in official competition in Cannes was sold by Lionsgate to a dozen territories

Roman Polanski’s Palme d’Or contender Venus in Fur [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roman Polanski
film profile
]
, represented by North American studio Lionsgate, has been picked up by a dozen territories, ahead of its official world premiere in Cannes on Saturday. The film is one of nine titles that have attracted business worth north of $250 million. The news was announced yesterday in Cannes.

"Our strong performance at Cannes this year is attributable in part to the international framework we've set in place combining output deals around the world with self-distribution in key territories such as the UK and Latin America," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chair Patrick Wachsberger. "This infrastructure gives us enormous flexibility and is already delivering remarkable results."

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Polanski’s competition entry Venus in Fur starring Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner has been sold to Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Italy (Rai), Benelux (eOne), Portugal (Pris), CIS (West), Baltics (Acme), Middle East (Eagle), Latin America (Gussi), Japan (Showgate), Taiwan (Long Hong) and Hong Kong (Delta Mac). Mars Distribution had previously snapped French rights.

The UK costume comedy A Little Chaos by Alan Rickman, starring Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts and Rickman was pre-sold to Germany/Switzerland (Tobis), France (Metropolitan), Italy (Eagle Pictures), CIS (Volga), Poland (Monolith), Middle East (Jaguar) and Japan (Kadokawa). The Potboiler/The Bureau production currently shooting in the UK, revolves around a pair of landscape gardeners who compete to design a fountain at Versailles for Louis XIV.

US stars Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, who came to the Croisette to promote the third and fourth installments of The Hunger Games franchise: Mockingkay Parts 1 & 2, fuelled sales to non-output partners such as Universal for Italy and India, Impuls for Switzerland, and Forum for Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ex-Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Israel. The Keanu Reeves vehicle John Wick telling the story of a retired hit man forced back into action was pre-sold to a dozen territories such as Germany (Studio Canal), France (Metropolitan), Italy (MK2), Benelux (A Film), CIS (West), Baltics (Acme), Poland (Monolith), The Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria (Media Pro).

Meanwhile Step Up 5, the fifth instalment of Summit’s successful franchise was sold to most world territories including Constantin (Germany), Universal (UK, Australia, Switzerland, France, Latin America), Italy (MK2), Benelux (Belga), Poland (Monolith), CIS (Central Partnership) and Scandinavia (Nordisk).

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