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Exclusive: U.S. sales outfit The Syndicate and financier Rabbits Black have set a strategic partnership heading into the European Film Market in Berlin.

The Syndicate will oversee sales rights moving forward on a slate of Rabbits Black-backed films, including upcoming thriller Midnight, starring Rosario Dawson, Milla Jovovich, and Alexandra Shipp, and the Clark Duke-directed Stranglehold, starring Ashley Benson, Jake Lacey and Ron Perlman.

Midnight, about a blind woman hunted by international criminals, and Stranglehold, about an exotic dancer and Army vet who rob a strip club, are both in post-production. Both were previously on sale with The Great Escape.

Michael Lurie and Jeffrey Giles, co-managers of The Syndicate, will oversee sales operations, while Great Escape’s Nick Donnermeyer will act as an advisor and oversee delivery and transition of the titles from Great Escape to The Syndicate.

We understand there are discussions between The Great Escape and The...

Coming our way from Vertical, Tpc, and Sss Entertainment, the thriller Lazareth is set to receive a theatrical and VOD release on May 10th – and with that date just one month away, a trailer for the film has arrived online. You can watch it in the embed above.

Written and directed by Alec Tibaldi (Spiral Farm), Lazareth tells the following story: Following the death of their parents, Lee adopts her nieces, Imogen and Maeve, and raises them in a remote cabin as a deadly pandemic rages on around them. For over 10 years, the girls are raised to never leave the woods, avoid any and all interaction with outsiders, and ultimately rely on Lee as their only connection to the outside world. Lee has convinced the girls this is the key to survival in what is now an infectious and violent world. But when Imogen and Maeve discover an injured man in the nearby woods,...

Exclusive: Production has wrapped on indie feature Bad Man, starring Seann William Scott (American Pie) alongside Johnny Simmons (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street), Chance Perdomo (After We Fell), Andre Hyland (Barry), and Lovi Poe (Chelsea Cowboy).

Inspired by a true story, the action-comedy follows a wild man state cop (Scott) who shows up in a small town with a big meth problem and immediately butts heads with a strait-laced local deputy (Simmons) as they attempt to solve a murder.

The production marks the feature directorial debut for Michael Diliberti, who co-wrote the screenplay with JJ Nelson. Previously, he wrote the Sony movie 30 Minutes or Less which starred Danny McBride, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Pena, and Aziz Ansari, with Ben Stiller producing.

Producers are Warner Davis and Todd Friedman for Hemlock Circle Productions, Brian Levy for Entertainment 360, Monty Blencowe and Shaun Sanghani for Sss Entertainment.

Exclusive: Vertical has picked up rights to the crime thriller Mother’s Milk, directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (As You Are), with plans to distribute it in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The film in which two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) stars opposite Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar) will hit theaters across North America beginning September 1, debuting in the other territories shortly thereafter.

Written by Joris-Peyrafitte and Madison Harrison, Mother’s Milk follows journalist Marissa Bennings (Swank) who, after the murder of her estranged son, forms an unlikely alliance with his pregnant girlfriend Paige (Cooke) to track down those responsible for his death. Together they confront a world of corruption and drugs in the underbelly of a small city in upstate New York. And as they get closer to the truth, they unearth an even darker secret.

Also starring Dilone, Hopper Penn,...

Vertical, Tpc, and Sss Entertainment have announced that their thriller Lazareth has made it through production in Oregon and has officially wrapped filming. Vertical holds the North American distribution rights to the film, which stars Ashley Judd (Heat). The project will be presented to potential international distributors at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.

Judd is joined in the cast by Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things), Asher Angel (Shazam!), and newcomer Edward Balaban. Written and directed by Alec Tibaldi (Spiral Farm), the film tells the story of Lee (Judd) who protects her orphaned nieces, Imogen (Douglas) and Maeve (Pidgeon) from a self-destructing world and raises them in isolation until an outsider (Angel) arrives threatening their peaceful existence.

Lazareth is being produced Robert Ogden Barnum and Eric Binns of The Barnum Picture Company. Vertical’s Peter Jarowey, Rich Goldberg, and Kristin Harris serve as executive producers alongside Tpc’s David Gendron,...

Exclusive: Ashley Judd (She Said) has wrapped production in Oregon on Lazareth, a new thriller written and directed by Alec Tibaldi that she stars in for Vertical, Tpc and Sss Entertainment. Others rounding out the cast include Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things), Asher Angel (Shazam!) and newcomer Edward Balaban.

The film to be distributed in North America by Vertical follows Lee (Judd), who protects her orphaned nieces, Imogen (Douglas) and Maeve (Pidgeon), from a self-destructing world and raises them in isolation until an outsider (Angel) arrives threatening their peaceful existence.

Pic is part of Vertical and Tpc’s new sustainable corporate financing model geared toward long-term growth and a symmetry of art and commerce that the companies debuted with Spencer Squire’s 2022 horror Abandoned. Vertical comes to the project after collaborating with Shaun Sanghani’s Sss Entertainment on such releases as Gone in the Night starring Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney,...

Exclusive: Here’s your first look at Dead Zone, the creature feature action movie starring Michael Jai White.

The plot follows an elite team of soldiers who, to stop the collapse of humanity, descend on a radiation-poisoned town and perform the ultimate stealth mission using high-tech armor and weapons. But they need to be careful – with hell on Earth, they may just meet the devil. Chad Michael Collins, Jeff Fahey, and Antuone Torbert also star in the film.

Hank Braxtan is directing. Producers are Michael Lurie, Jeffrey Giles, Tarkan Dospil for production company Automatic Entertainment. The project is now in post-production.

The actor’s Elysium Bandini Studios produced the projects in association with Los Angeles film schools.

Cinedigm Corp. has acquired all North American rights to The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards and Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman Of La Mancha, produced by James Franco, Jennifer Howell and Vince Jolivette’s Elysium Bandini Studios.

The Heyday Of The Insensitive Bastards was produced in conjunction with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and stars Franco, Tyler Labine, Kate Mara, Jim Parrack, Natalie Portman, Rico Rodriguez, Abigail Spencer, Amber Tamblyn, Thomas Mann and Kristen Wiig.

The film has a unique structure comprised of a series of vignettes that run the whole gamut of emotions as the film delves into universal themes of memory, longing and loss.

Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman Of La Mancha was produced in conjunction with USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and was written and directed by students in Franco’s USC graduate...

Exclusive: Automatic Entertainment has closed key territories on upcoming Film4 FrightFest world premiere.

Jon Knautz’s erotic thriller stars Woody Naismith, Elizabeth Sandy and Alexis Kendra (pictured) and centres on an emotionally unstable stripper who descends into madness after her boyfriend dumps her.

Knautz co-wrote the screenplay with Kendra and Goddess Of Love is styled in the vein of films by Brian De Palma and Roman Polanski.

Automatic has closed sales with Ipa Asia Pacific in Thailand, Line Tree in South Korea, New Select in Japan and Panorama in Hong Kong. Signature Entertainment will distribute in the UK.

The film will receive its world premiere at London FrightFest on August 31 and has also been accepted to play in the Panorama strand at Sitges which runs from October 9-18.

“I was very inspired by films like Taxi Driver and Repulsion and I became fascinated with the idea of having the audience experience a film through the eyes of...

Exclusive: Automatic Entertainment will introduce Berlin buyers next month to a slate that includes the thriller Goddess Of Love.

Jon Knautz directed the story of a troubled dancer who descends into madness when she suspects her lover is having an affair.

The Automatic Entertainment roster includes comedy zombie parody The Walking Deceased that Arc Entertainment plans to distribute theatrically in the Us in March.

Automatic chiefs Michael Lurie and Jeffrey Giles will also show a teaser from the faith-based action title David And Goliath and a promo for Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer Pound Of Flesh.

eOne plans a North American release in May, while Splendid handles for Germany, Scandinavia, Benelux and Switzerland, Leda for Latin America, Daro for Eastern Europe, Cis and South Africa, Ace for France and UK and Klockworx for Japan.

Aqua Group holds rights in Turkey, FrontRow in Middle East, United King in Israel, Eagle Entertainment in Australia and Tot Media in Spain.

Automatic...

The specialty label will also be selling three films in Berlin

Sunrise Pictures has formed Terror Films, a specialty division that will focus on development, finance, production, sales and distribution of horror, sci-fi and thriller films.

The films will be targeted for limited theatrical, television and ancillary markets like VOD and Redbox.

Also Read: Sundance Party Report in Pictures: The Snowy Scene in Park City (Updating Photos)

Sunrise CEO Peter Schafer and executives Joe Dain, Jim Klock and Miles Fineburg will oversee the genre label.

Terror recently signed a multiple-picture deal with foreign sales company Automatic Entertainment, headed by Michael Lurie and Jeffrey Giles.

Exclusive: La-based Automatic Entertainment has closed a slew of deals on the Efm-bound action title Pound Of Flesh starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Automatic co-owners and former Archstone sales chiefs Jeffrey Giles and Michael Lurie have licensed the film to Ace Entertainment for France, Klockworx for Japan, Leda Films for Latin America Daro for Eastern Europe, Cis and South Africa.

Ernie Barbarash directs from a screenplay by Joshua James about a former solider who reunites with his estranged brother to save his dying niece.

Principal photography is scheduled to kick off in China in March.

Automatic’s Efm slate includes White Rabbit, SXSW 2013 selection Holy Ghost People, American Muscle co-produced with Travis Stevens of Snowfort Pictures and Ninja Apocalypse.

Later this month knights will do battle with the undead, and we can guarantee you that more than mere flesh wounds will be handed out on their quest to protect the Holy Grail. Knight of the Dead is the name of this latest zombie flick, and you'll find full release details right here!

Knight of the Dead is directed by Mark Atkins and co-written by Atkins and Jeffrey Giles. It stars Dylan Jones, Lee Bennett, Jason Beeston, and Vivien Vilela.

From the Press Release

Hunted by raiders, a band of crusading knights must escort a sacred artifact through a zombie-infested valley in Knight of the Dead, coming to DVD and VOD January 21, 2014, from Inception Media Group.

A band of crusading knights is charged with escorting the Holy Grail to safety through a plague-ridden countryside. Hunted by assassins, the knights venture into the forbidden Valley of Black Death, where they discover...

Well Go USA has acquired all North American rights to Snowfort Pictures and Automatic Entertainment’s American Muscle.

Commercial and music video director Ravi Dhar’s arthouse action-thriller stars Nick Principe, Robin Sydney, Todd Farmer, John Fallon, Trent Haaga and Malice McMunn.

The story takes place in California’s Yucca Valley as an ex-con embarks on a mission of revenge against his brother.

John Fallon wrote the screenplay and Travis Stevens produced alongside Jeffrey Giles and Michael Lurie.

“We set out to make a different kind of action film; something beautiful and exciting,” said Snowfort’s Stevens. “We can’t think of a company better suited to bring Ravi Dhar’s unique vision to audiences than Well Go USA.”

Stevens brokered the deal with Well Go USA president and head of acquisitions Doris Pfardrescher.

“The movie’s about a guy, who’s been in prison for 10 years, gets released, and over the next 24 hours kills every single person who had a hand in him going to jail,” movie producer and Snowfort Pictures founder Travis Stevens told EW earlier this year, talking about the new action-thriller American Muscle. “He’s just a shark moving straight forward — just chewing through everybody in front of him. l feel it’s my most personal film because it has everything that I love in the world: Naked tattooed chicks riding motorcycles with Uzis and a bad-ass guy who doesn’t really speak too much!

Personally, I'm a big fan of tales regarding the Knights of the Round Table and their ilk, which is why when word landed in my inbox about a new film entitled Knight of the Dead, of course I had to do a little digging and share the spoils with our readers.

Knight of the Dead is directed by Mark Atkins and co-written by Atkins and Jeffrey Giles. It stars Dylan Jones, Lee Bennett, Jason Beeston, and Vivien Vilela.

Below you'll find some early artwork, a trailer, and the film's synopsis. Look for more soon.

Synopsis:

Hunted by assassins, a band of crusading knights escort the Holy Grail through a forbidden valley of black death. What they discover is far more terrifying than the plague. Overrun by hordes of flesh-eating zombies, their only chance for survival is to hack and slash their way to freedom.

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