Berlin: Picture Tree Intl. Takes on Sales Rights to Simon Verhoeven’s ‘Nightlife’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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.

Greenwich Entertainment has taken the U.S. rights to When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, an adaptation of Judith Kerr's semi-biographical children's book about how her Jewish family escaped from the Nazis and emigrated to England in the 1930s.

Searchlight Pictures has emerged as the frontrunner for the Olivia Wilde-directed gymnastics movie “Perfect,” amid a days-long bidding war out of Berlin’s EFM.

Castle Falls, the Dolph Lundgren and Scott Adkins actioner, which Lundgren is also set to direct, has landed a number of international deals and found a home in the U.S.

British actor Anthony Head has signed on to star in upcoming horror comedy Let the Wrong One Infrom Irish director Conor McMahon. The film is a co-production betweenTailored Films(who produced McMahon's prior feature Stitches) and McMahon's recently established companyWorkshed Films.The film is set to begin production in Dublin in late March.

South Korea’s Contents Panda has sold director Yeon Sang-ho’s upcoming action filmPeninsula, a sequel to the 2016 cult zombie action flick Train to Busan, to 15 territories, including North America (Well Go USA) and U.K. (Studio Canal).


Leonine, the new producer/distributor formed via multiple acquisitions by private equity giant KKR in Germany, has acquired all rights to Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road for Germany and Austria.The all-rights licensing deal with Pathé Films was unveiled Friday during the European Film Market in Berlin.The film marks the fifth live-action adventure based on the comic book characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo and takes the heroes to China.

By Tom Grater

STX Entertainment, Black Bear Pictures and Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures have unveiled a strategic distribution partnership.

In the run up to Berlin’s European Film Market, Indie Sales has unveiled the trailer for Thor Klein’s “Adventures of a Mathematician” which had its world premiere in Palm Springs.

Defiant Dedryck Boyata insists Scottish football's snipers have got it all wrong because Celtic helped make him a Belgium star.

By Tom Grater

British filmmaking icon Mike Leigh is prepping his next film following 2018's Amazon-backed Peterloo.The project – currently known as Untitled 2020and with plot details being kept under wraps – will shoot in the U.K. this summer.Cornerstone Films will once again handle international sales and will be introducing the project to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin, with Bleecker Street on board for U.S.

By Andreas Wiseman

By Tom Grater

Dino Dana: The Movie, the big-screen adaptation of Sinking Ship Entertainment's Emmy-winning TV series, is heading to the European Film Market in Berlin and has already landed several territory sales.Odin's Eye Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales rights outside of North America to the Telefilm-backed feature, selling to Japan (New Select) and South Korea (Yejilim) ahead of the market, where it will feature in Telefilms Perspective Canada screenings.The film will launch in North America

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Charlatan,” which premieres in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the Berlin Film Festival.

Variety has been given an exclusive clip from Berlin Film Festival competition film “Volevo Nascondermi” (Hidden Away) by Giorgio Diritti. The film stars Cannes award-winner Elio Germano (“La nostra vita”) as the 20th century Naïve artist Antonio Ligabue.

London-based sales agency Film Republic has boarded Finnish film “Eden” as it prepares for the European Film Market in Berlin. The company has released a teaser for the film.

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Christian Petzold’s “Undine,” which world premieres in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Petzold won the Silver Berlin Bear for best director for “Barbara” in 2012.