Uzo Aduba Pic ‘Miss Virginia’ Gets October Release Date In Vertical Deal; Melanie Martinez’s ‘K-12’ Movie Set At Abramorama; Dark Star Lands ‘The Prey’

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Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Miss Virginia, which stars Orange Is the New Black Emmy winner Uzo Aduba in a drama inspired by a true story of a struggling inner-city mother who sacrifices everything to give her son a good education. R.J. Daniel Hanna directed the pic written by Erin O’Connor, and Matthew Modine, Aunjanue Ellis and Vanessa Williams also star. Vertical has set an October 18 day-and-date theatrical and VOD release. The deal was negotiated by Josh Spector at Vertical and Stacey Parks and Rob Pfaltzgraff on behalf of the Moving Picture Institute, which produced.

Abramorama has come aboard to release K-12, a full-length feature film based on singer Melanie Martinez’s latest album of the same name that hits shelves September 6. The Atlantic Records album, Martinez’s follow-up to her 2015 platinum debut Cry Baby, serves as a soundtrack companion to the musical film, which is written, directed and starring Martinez. K-12 will premiere in Los Angeles on September 3 and in New York on September 5, the same night it will be shown as a one-night-only global event in theaters worldwide. In K-12 the movie, Martinez stars as Cry Baby, a strong and sensitive girl who is sent off to a disturbing sleepaway school hidden underneath a grandiose façade. Here’s the trailer:

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Dark Star Pictures has acquired North American rights to The Prey, and action thriller from writer-director Jimmy Henderson that just played the Fantasia Film Festival after stops at the Busan and BFI London fests. An October day-and-date release is planned for the pic, loosely based on the story The Most Dangerous Game, the plot centers on an undercover Chinese cop (Gu Shangwei) who is on a secret international mission when a surprise raid puts him in a remote Cambodian jungle prison where a ruthless warden (Vithaya Pansringarm) sells prisoners as human prey for rich hunters looking for thrills in the jungle. The deal was negotiated by Dark Star president Michael Repsch and Pip Ngo of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

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