Berlin Film Festival 2016: Paramount Takes George Clooney's 'Suburbicon'
The European Film Market seems to be in full swing with multiple deals being made for upcoming films.
The market, one of the biggest film markets of the year, is held during the Berlin Film Festival and is known for attracting some of the biggest European co-productions.
This year, one of the biggest acquisitions was for George Clooney's upcoming film "Suburbicon." The upcoming film, which was picked up by Paramount for $10 million, will be directed by Clooney and is currently being written by Joel and Ethan Coen. The movie is set to star Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin and Matt Damon.
Another huge deal was Jeff Nichols' "Loving." The director's latest was acquired for $10 million by Focus Features, which is under new management and has scaled down the number of releases set for this year. The new film stars Joel Edgerton and Michael Shannon.
Coincidentally, Nichols also has another film premiering at the festival, "Midnight Special," which recently received some of the best reviews of the director's career.
Ira Sachs' "Little Men" was another movie that received a key deal. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. The company also took rights to Alex Gibney's "Zero Days."
Sundance Selects also took rights to Mia Hansen-Love's latest film "Things to Come." That movie, starring Isabelle Huppert, premiered at Berlin and scored rave reviews. It was one of the most touted titles out of the festival and is expected to be released in time for awards season.
Other big acquisitions included Film Movement's acquisition of Cannes winner "Mon Roi" and Freestyle acquiring "Divine Actress."
In an age when distribution has become extremely difficult, Berlin's market also acted as a launching pad for Grasshopper films, a company backed by former Cinema Guild distribution executive Ryan Krivoshey. The indie distribution company plans to release 8 to 12 titles to theaters each year. Additionally, the company also wants to release more than 50 titles on VOD, digital and non-traditional outlets per year. The company will start with Asghar Farhadi's 2006 film, "Fireworks Wednesday," which never got distribution.
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