Following its buzzed-about world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (in case you missed it, read Heather Wixson's 4-star review here), Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky’s Freaks has been acquired by Well Go USA, with theatrical release planned for 2019:
Press Release: TORONTO – September 10, 2018 – Well Go USA has closed a multi-territory deal for Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky’s sci-fi thriller “Freaks,” less than 36 hours after the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In a negotiation that stretched until the early morning hours, Well Go ultimately nabbed rights to “Freaks” for North America, UK, Australia/New Zealand, and Latin America in a multi-seven figure deal, one of the biggest sales at this year's festival. Well Go plans a major theatrical release in 2019.
FREAKS, which stars Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, and Lexy Kolker, is a genre-bending psychological sci-fi thriller. A disturbed father (Hirsch) locks his 7-year-old daughter (Kolker) in a house, warning her of mysterious dangers outside. But the mysterious Mr. Snowcone (Dern) convinces the girl to escape and join him on a quest for family, freedom, and revenge.
FREAKS premiered Saturday night and received rave reviews from a wide range of critics for its suspenseful storyline, innovative world-building, and a breakout performance by 7-year-old Kolker.
The film was financed by Wise Daughter Films, in association with My Way Productions and Storyboard Capital Group. It was written by Lipovsky and Stein, and produced by Lipovsky, Stein, Jordan Barber, and Mitchell Waxman. Executive producers were M. Alan Stein, Rick Alyea, Philip Kim, and Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard.
The deal was negotiated by Dylan Marchetti and Doris Pfardrescher for Well Go USA. CAA and The Gersh Agency represented the filmmakers.
Coming on the heels of their deal for English-speaking rights to Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” last week, Well Go’s acquisition of “Freaks” continues to show the company making serious moves into critically-acclaimed, elevated genre fare.
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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