The deal includes Lionsgate’s star-studded high-profile titles BORDERLANDS, WHITE BIRD: A WONDER STORY and THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT
Munich/Los Angeles, 6 May 2021 – LEONINE Studios and Lionsgate have closed a three-picture all-rights deal for Germany and Austria. The German major led by CEO Fred Kogel acquired the territory rights to BORDERLANDS – Eli Roth’s star-studded adaptation of the best selling videogame, WHITE BIRD: A WONDER STORY – the companion film drawn from the universe of the 2017 box office hit WONDER, and the action-comedy THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT.
The deal comes after the highly successful collaboration between Lionsgate and LEONINE Studios on global hit KNIVES OUT, which achieved more than 1 million admissions in German theaters in 2020, and the recent acquisition of the upcoming action-comedy SHOTGUN WEDDING starring Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, and Lenny Kravitz.
Fred Kogel, CEO of LEONINE Studios, said: “We are proud to continue our close relationship with Lionsgate, an esteemed partner for top content, as we firmly believe in a strong box-office performance of high-quality event movies. We have built our theatrical slate as well as our digital and linear distribution based upon this strategy and will continue to do so.”
Based on the game from Gearbox and 2K, one of the best selling videogame franchises of all time, BORDERLANDS features a stellar Hollywood A-list cast: Two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett (BLUE JASMINE, THE AVIATOR), Primetime Emmy Award® nominee Kevin Hart (JUMANJI franchise, RIDE ALONG franchise, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE), two-time Golden Globe® nominee Jack Black (SCHOOL OF ROCK, JUMANJI franchise, KUNG FU PANDA franchise), Ariana Greenblatt (AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS, LOVE AND MONSTERS) and Golden Globe® Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis (TRUE LIES, KNIVES OUT, HALLOWEEN franchise). In the movie, Lilith (Blanchett), an infa-mous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistently wiseass robot. These unlike-ly heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other. The screenplay is written by Emmy Award® winner Craig Mazin (CHERNOBYL, THE HANGOVER II & III) and co-written and di-rected by Eli Roth (THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS, HOSTEL I & II). The producers are Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Erik Feig. The film is currently in production.
For millions of readers and moviegoers, WONDER is the captivating, inspiring, and uplifting story of the power of kindness – how it can build bridges and change hearts. In WHITE BIRD: A WONDER STORY, kindness even has the power to save lives, as Julian Albans, the bully who left Beecher Prep, is visited by his grandmother from Paris and is transformed by her remarkable story of compassion and courage. As a girl in Nazi-occupied France, the young grandmother goes into hiding with the help of a schoolmate, a young man who risks everything to give her the chance to survive. Together, they find beauty and love in the secret world of their own creation. From Marc Forster (director of FINDING NEVERLAND, CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, THE KITE RUNNER, QUANTUM OF SOLACE) and based on R.J. Palacio’s book, WHITE BIRD, like WONDER before it, is an emotional story about the ways that even in the most harrowing circumstances, empathy for others can make every difference in the world. The cast includes such impressive young acting talents as Bryce Gheisar (WONDER), Orlando Schwerdt (TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG), and Ariella Glaser (RADIOACTIVE), as well as Golden Globe® and Emmy Award® winner Gillian Anderson (THE FALL, THE CROWN) and Academy Award® winner Helen Mirren (THE QUEEN, THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY). The film is produced by Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman, and R.J. Palacio and is currently in post-production.
THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT stars the iconic multiple award-winning actor Nicolas Cage (CON AIR, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, GONE IN 60 SECONDS) in the role of a lifetime: Nicolas Cage. In the movie, the fictionalized Cage – creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin – must accept a $1 million offer to attend a super fan’s birthday party, when things suddenly take a wildly dangerous turn. The action-comedy also stars Pedro Pascal (THE MANDALORIAN, WONDER WOMAN 1984, NARCOS), Sharon Horgan (GAME NIGHT, DIVORCE), Alessandra Mastronardi (TO ROME WITH LOVE), Lily Mo Sheen (UNDER-WORLD: EVOLUTION), and Tiffany Haddish (GIRLS TRIP, NIGHT SCHOOL) and is co-written and directed by Tom Gormican (THAT AWKWARD MOMENT). The film is produced by Nicolas Cage, Mike Nilon, Kevin Turen, and Kirstin Burr, and is currently in post-production.
