Ben Kingsley-Led Sci-Fi Comedy ‘Jules’ From Director Marc Turtletaub Acquired By Bleecker Street

Matt Grobar
·2 min read
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Bleecker Street has picked up North American rights to the sci-fi comedy Jules, starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Emmy nominee Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza) and two-time Emmy winner Jane Curtin (3rd Rock from the Sun), slating it for an exclusive theatrical release on August 11th.

The film will contend on its opening weekend with Sony’s Gran Turismo, the Uni horror Last Voyage of the Demeter and Luca Guadagnino’s UAR tennis drama Challengers with Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, with Paramount, Nickelodeon and Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to be among the likely holdovers following its launch the weekend prior.

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Directed by Marc Turtletaub (Puzzle) from a script by Gavin Steckler (Review), Jules tells the story of Milton (Kingsley), who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash-land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls “Jules.” Things become complicated when two neighbors (Harris and Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in, with the three neighbors ultimately going on to find meaning and connection later in life, thanks to this unlikely stranger.

Zoe Winters (Succession) and Jade Quon (Transformers: The Last Knight) round out the cast of the pic which world premiered as the opening night film of this year’s Sonoma Film Festival, there laying claim to the Stolman Audience Award for Best Feature. The film is produced by Debbie Liebling and Andy Daly, along with Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub and Marc Turletaub, who produced for Big Beach (Little Miss Sunshine, The Farewell). David Bausch served as executive producer.

Jules joins a 2023 slate at Bleecker Street which includes Frances O’Connor’s recently released debut feature Emily with Emma Mackey; Catherine Hardwicke’s Mafia Mamma starring Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci, which is currently in theaters; Laurel Parmet’s feature directorial debut The Starling Girl, out May 12; Alice Troughton’s The Lesson, releasing theatrically July 7; Guy Nattiv’s Golda starring Helen Mirren, which premiered in Berlin in February and is set for an August 25 theatrical release, as well as What Happens Later, which marks Meg Ryan’s first feature in eight years.

Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy negotiated the deal for Jules on behalf of Bleecker Street, with Range Media Partners on behalf of the filmmakers. Big Beach is repped by Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes LawCo.

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