Cannes: IFC Films, Shudder Buy Isabel May Film ‘Menace'(EXCLUSIVE)
IFC Films and Shudder have acquired the North American rights to Spooky Pictures’ and Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s “Menace” out of the Cannes market. The indie labels also nabbed distribution rights to the sci-fi horror film in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in its first Cannes pick-up. “Menace” will premiere in 2025.
IFC Films and Shudder, which share a parent company in AMC Networks, recently partnered on “Late Night With the Devil,” which became IFC Films’ highest-grossing opening weekend ever and is now approaching $10 million in domestic ticket sales. They also teamed up on “Watcher,” a 2022 psychological thriller.
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Directed by Randall Okita, whose previous feature “See For Me” was also released by IFC Films, the film follows a research student (Isabel May), who has a psychotic breakdown and is remanded to the custody of her aunt and uncle in a small town. There, strange things begin to transpire and people start disappearing, leaving her uncertain about what is real or what is simply a figment of her imagination.
“Menace” is written by Thom Eberhardt, and is produced by Spooky Pictures’ Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s Derek Dauchy, The O Team’s Daniel Ostroff, with William Woods and Maddy Falle. Additional executive producers include May via her banner Una Vaca Productions, Ben Ross, Rami Yasin, Tom Spriggs and Stuart Ford.
May is best known for her roles on “Young Sheldon,” “Alexa & Katie” and “1883.”
“We are thrilled to reteam with the powerhouse producers at Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Spooky Pictures, marking our third collaboration and another opportunity to match the tremendous successes we’ve had with ‘Watcher’ and most recently ‘Late Night with the Devil,’” said Emily Gotto, SVP of acquisitions and production for Shudder. “Randall Okita is a prolific filmmaker and we’re excited to join him again by bringing his imaginative work to audiences worldwide.”
“After successful runs on both ‘Watcher’ and ‘Late Night with the Devil,’ we couldn’t be more excited to partner with IFC and Shudder for a third time on ‘Menace,'” Ben Ross, acting CEO of Image Nation Abu Dhabi said. “We appreciate the passion that Scott, Emily and the teams have brought to these projects and can’t wait to see the outcome of this latest collaboration.”
“I am thrilled to be working with IFC and Shudder to share ‘Menace’ with audiences around the world,” Okita said. “They are the perfect partner for our sci-fi horror and I look forward to embarking on this journey with them for this fantastic project.”
The deal was negotiated by Jason Ishikawa for Cinetic Media, John Fremes for AGC on behalf of the filmmakers and Emily Gotto on behalf of IFC Films and Shudder. Okita is repped by Paradigm and Principal Entertainment. May is repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan.
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