EXCLUSIVE: Signature Entertainment has picked up a raft of film and TV content for the UK market, including Drake Doremus drama Endings, Beginnings with Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, Sebastian Stan and Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jake Gyllenhaal-produced Sundance horror Relic.
The company has also struck deals for classic library titles including Muriel’s Wedding, Luc Besson action pic Taxi and cult sci-fi series Children Of Dune via separate pacts with TF1 and Sonar Entertainment.
Toronto premiere Endings, Beginnings, from Parasite producer CJ, charts a turbulent and passionate love triangle. Acquired from UK sales outfit Protagonist, it will get a day and date theatrical release in August.
Well-received horror Relic sees Emily Mortimer (The Bookshop) star as a daughter haunted by a manifestation of her mother’s dementia. Acquired from Film Constellation, the film will be released in the UK later this year.
Meanwhile, Signature has struck a deal with TF1 for the SVOD and AVOD rights to a string of library titles, including Toni Collette rom-com Muriel’s Wedding, Luc Besson action pic Taxi, Gary Oldman political thriller The Contender, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman thriller Under Suspicion and Mark Ruffalo tear-jerker My Life Without Me. The films are due to be released across multiple UK and Australian and New Zeeland digital platforms this summer.
In a deal with Sonar Entertainment, Signature has picked up TV titles including Frank Herbert’s cult sci-fi mini-series Children Of Dune, starring James McAvoy and Susan Sarandon; fantasy series Earthsea; the 2004 TV version of Frankenstein with Donald Sutherland, Luke Goss and Dan Stevens; disaster actioner Meteor with Christopher Lloyd; and timely 2007 series Pandemic. The TV slate will be available on UK and Australian and New Zealand streaming platforms later this month.
The deals were negotiated by the company’s director of acquisitions and development, Elizabeth Williams.
Commenting on the acquisitions, Signature’s Chief Operation Officer Jon Bourdillon said: “We are delighted to bring these exciting new releases and classic library content to the expanding Signature label. This further consolidates Signature’s award-winning position in the world of independent distribution which is flourishing for us right now”.
Signature’s current release slate includes Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day In New York and Liam Neeson thriller Honest Thief. The company tells us the former has performed “very well” in its first days of digital and physical release.