Press

Spandau Ballet doc set for Cannes

28 April 2014 in Screen Daily

EXCLUSIVE: Metro International to screen documentary about 80s band to buyers. Soul Boys of the Western World, a documentary about 1980s group Spandau Ballet that proved a hit at SXSW in March, is to be screened to buyers at the Cannes Marché next month, handled by UK sales company Metro International. Members of the band, which had more than 20 hit singles such as True and Gold, are expected to make an appearance on the Croisette, five years after launching the project at the film festival. They will be joined by first-time director George Hencken to screen the film and launch international sales,...

Irish comedy The Stag sells to US

19 February 2014 in Screen Daily

EXCLUSIVE: Metro International inks multiple deals for Toronto premiere, starring Sherlock’s Andrew Scott. UK sales outfit Metro International has inked a number of deals on Irish comedy The Stag, including a US deal with Tribeca Film. Additional sales comprise Canada (TVA), Australia/NZ (Umbrella Entertainment), German-speaking Europe (Drei Freunde) and Italy (Academy 2). Further deals are in the works. The Toronto premiere tells the story of a groom-to-be who reluctantly agrees to a stag weekend of wild camping in the great outdoors of western Ireland. Cast includes Andrew Scott, best known for playing villain Moriarty in BBC drama Sherlock, alongside Peter McDonald, Hugh O’Conor and...

Metro International gets Spandau Ballet Doc

05 February 2014 in Screen Daily

EXCLUSIVE: UK sales outfit boards SXSW-bound doc about iconic 80s band. Metro International has boarded sales on documentary Soul Boys of the Western World about iconic 1980s band Spandau Ballet, which is set to premiere at SXSW in March. The archive film charts the rise, fall and reunion of the New Romantic group, comprising Tony Hadley, Gary Kemp, Steve Norman, John Keeble and Martin Kemp, which sold an estimated 20 million records worldwide. The documentary, which debuts in SXSW’s 24 Beats Section, is directed by long-term Julien Temple collaborator George Hencken. Producers are Steve Dagger and Scott Millaney. Metro International partner and head of...

Monterey media warms to Sun

14 January 2014 in Screen Daily

The distributor has picked up US rights to Half Of A Yellow Sun starring Golden Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film premiered in Toronto and is based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel of the same name. Playwright Biyi Bandele’s directorial debut also stars Thandie Newton in the historical drama set against the Nigerian-Biafran War. Monterey brokered the deal with Metro International and plans an early summer theatrical release....

First Look: Sam Rockwell & Olivia Wilde In ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’

08 January 2014 in Indiewire

Starring Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Schwartz, Ken Howard, Ray Liotta and Jane Fonda, the dark comedy brings together an ensemble cast for the tale of an edgy romance. This has been a hot project for a while now, with the script landing on the 2009 Black List, with a previous incarnation of the project once drawing Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Garner and Judi Dench. While that didn't come to pass, this version looks promising on its own. First look above. Samuel Goldwyn will release the film this spring. Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today a Spring 2014...

Distribution: Goldwyn takes Chemistry

07 January 2014 in Screen Daily

Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Occupant Film’s Better Living Through Chemistry starring and Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde in spring in the US. Universal Studios Home Entertainment will handle US home entertainment while Universal Pictures International Entertainment will handle all ancillary platforms in the UK, the Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, South America, and several Eastern European and Asian territories. Occupant Entertainment’s Joe Neurauter and Felipe Marino produced the story of a pharmacist who embarks upon a wild affair with a customer. Geoff Moore and David Posamentier directed in their debut. Metro International’s Will Machin and ICM Partners’ Jessica Lacy represented rights. •...

Shooting For Socrates revisits 1986 World Cup

27 November 2013 in Screen Daily

Cast includes John Hannah and Richard Dormer; Metro International handles sales. Shooting is underway in Belfast on Shooting For Socrates, about the 1986 World Cup when Northern Ireland met Brazil in the finals. Victoria Gregory of New Black Films is producing. James Erskine (One Night In Turin) directs. Marie Jones wrote the script. Metro International handles sales. The cast features John Hannah, Jackie Fullerton, Richard Dormer, Art Parkinson and Bronagh Gallagher in the story of the Northern Ireland team’s momentous World Cup performance that year, through the eyes of players, fans (including a 10-year-old boy from East Belfast) and journalists. The film also includes...

AFM: Metro International Sells ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ to U.K., Australia

11 November 2013 in Hollywood Reporter

The feature debut of director Biyi Bandele stars Thandie Newton and “12 Years a Slave” actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. Metro International Entertainment have been racking up sales for the drama Half of a Yellow Sun, with Soda Pictures taking U.K. rights and Leapfrog snatching up Australian and New Zealand rights for the feature starring 12 Years a Slave's Chiwetel Ejiofor. Metro said it also has closed with TVA for Canada and has multiple offers from U.S. distributors. The feature, based on a best-selling novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and co-starring Thandie Newton, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will have its U.S....

Will Poulter Set For iBoy

06 November 2013 in Empire

He showed off some compelling comedy chops (not to mention disturbing fake genitalia) in We’re The Millers this year. Now Will Poulter is set to take a stab at the superhero genre with ads man Adam Randall calling the shots for iBoy. Adapted by Joe Barton from Kevin Brooks’ thriller novel, the premise is a fairly simple origin story: regular teenager Tom (Poulter) is set upon by local gangmembers on a London street. The encounter leaves him with fragments of a shattered smartphone embedded in his brain. While that leaves him temporarily comatose, it comes with some intriguing new abilities when he...

Will Poulter logs onto Metro’s iBoy

06 November 2013 in Screen Daily

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Randall to direct London-set thriller, written by Screen Star of Tomorrow Joe Barton. We’re The Millers and Son of Rambow star Will Poulter is to lead the cast in the adaptation of well-received superhero novel iBoy, about a teenage boy who gains special powers when he’s hit by a falling iPhone. 2013 Screen Star of Tomorrow screenwriter Joe Barton has adapted Kevin Brooks’ London-set thriller, with commercials director Adam Randall on board to direct. Donnie Brasco and Kinsey producer Gail Mutrux produces for US-based production outfit Pretty Pictures alongside London-based Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill and Lucan Toh of Wigwam Films (Having...