EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios is finalizing a U.S. deal we understand to be in the $11 million-$12 million range for buzzy action pic Ballerina Overdrive.
The Witcher: Blood Origin director Vicky Jewson has directed the completed feature about a troupe of ballerinas who find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.
Lana Condor (To All the Boys franchise), Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), Iris Apatow
(The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping), Maddie Ziegler (West Side Story), Avantika (Senior Year), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill franchise) and Michael Culkin (The Nest) star.
Pic heralds from Deadpool and John Wick director David Leitch and Bullet Train producer Kelly McCormick’s 87North, and Bill Bindley and Mike Karz’s Gulfstream Pictures (Upgraded), which financed the movie. Piers Tempest (Upgraded) also produces. We understand there are franchise ambitions for the project — the premise seems ripe.
We hear Amazon’s domestic pact is for streaming but that there is potential for a theatrical component. As we previously revealed, Amazon had already taken international on the movie, so they will now have worldwide on the project. Those rights were handled by Vincent Maraval and Kim Fox’s The Veterans. CAA Media Finance repped domestic.
Pic is based on a script by Kate Freund (Afterlife). Heidi Moneymaker and Renae Moneymaker — whose credits include Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Project Artemis — created the film’s dance-based action choreography. Jenny Jue (Okja) cast the film.
The deal continues Gulfstream’s relationship with Amazon and marks their fifth film together in the past few years. Recently released titles include The Other Zoey, Upgraded, and One Fast Move while Kevin Costner and Jake Gyllenhaal pic Honeymoon With Harry is being prepped.