FilmDistrict announced today that it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Constantin Film and Impact Pictures Pompeii, the period-based action film from director Paul W.S. Anderson.
FilmDistrict will distribute Pompeii through Sony’s TriStar Pictures on February 28, 2014.
The film stars Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Kiefer Sutherland (“24”), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“LOST”), and Jessica Lucas (Evil Dead).
FilmDistricts CEO Peter Schlessel stated, ’Pompeii’ is the kind of big and bold film we all love to go to the movies to experience. We believe the films scope and story line will resonate well with US moviegoers and we are pleased to once again team with Sony on bringing a film to theaters and beyond. We look forward to working closely with Paul, Jeremy, Robert, Don, Martin and Jon as their US distribution partner.
The film follows an enslaved Celtic gladiator who falls in love with a noblewoman on the eve of a massive volcanic eruption that destroys Pompeii, an event that also brings him face-to-face with the man who slaughtered his family years earlier.
Jeremy Bolt, Anderson, Robert Kulzer and Don Carmody will produce the film, with Martin Moszkowicz, Peter Schlessel and Jon Brown serving as executive producers. Lee Batchler & Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever), Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes), and Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”) wrote the screenplay for the film, which is currently in production.
