Cranked Up Films Catches ‘American Badger’; ‘Reboot Camp’ Sets Up At Freestyle; Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles Lineup; More – Film Briefs

Patrick Hipes and Amanda N'Duka
·4 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Good Deed Entertainment’s genre label Cranked Up Films has acquired U.S. rights to American Badger, an action film written and directed by and starring stunt veteran Kirk Caouette (X-Men, Fantastic Four, Mission to Mars). It is set for a digital and VOD release on June 15.

Caouette plays a hitman known as Badger, the nickname that came from his wife, who died 4451 days ago. Since her passing he has been living the life of a recluse, operating in the shadows. But all that is about to change with his latest assignment: Make friends with a sex worker named Velvet (Andrea Stefancikova) and extract information about the inner workings of an Albanian gang she works for. An unlikely romance follows until Badger’s handler tells him that it is time to take down the syndicate — and the first person he must kill is Velvet.

More from Deadline

“Right away we took to the complex, multi-layered character of Badger and appreciated Kirk’s ability to merge action and psychological introspection,’ Cranked Up Films CEO and founder Scott Donley said. “No doubt audiences will appreciate this atypical tone as well.”

Rick Podd, Jacqueline Nguyen and Ines Eisses are producers, and Caouette is executive producer. Cranked Up’s Kristin Harris negotiated the deal with Raven Banner repping the filmmakers.

Here’s the trailer:

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to Reboot Camp, the ensemble comedy written and directed by Ivo Raza. David Lipper, Keli Price, Ed Begley Jr, David Koechner, Lindsey Shaw, Chaz Bono, Shar Jackson, Pierson Fodé, Maya Stojan and Eddie McClintock star, with cameos by Ja Rule, Eric Roberts, Johnny Bananas and Billy Morrison. The pic, which won the Comedy Vanguard Feature Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, will get a May 4 day-and-date digital and VOD release.

The plot centers on Seymour (Lipper), who is on a mission to expose false prophets who fleece people for money. He teams with his brother Danny (Price), a filmmaker, and they start a fake self-improvement group called Reboot Camp. They plan to document the entire process on film and showcase the falseness of it all, as well as, they hope, make an award-winning documentary.

Lipper produced via his Northern Productions banner, along with Raza, Tina Sutakanat, and Jim Johnston. Co-producers include Price, David Roberson and Kipp Tribble. Tim Alek and Steve Gentry are executive producers.

Here’s the trailer:

***

***

Quiver Distribution has acquired North American rights to Timecrafters, The Treasure of Pirates Cove, a family film from Hip Films that is directed by Rick Spalla. It will be release digitally and on-demand May 14. Casey Simpson, McKinley Blehm, Lucas Jaye, Connor Cain and Gavin Magnus star along with Denise Richards, Patrick Muldoon, Eric Balfour, Malcolm McDowell and The Walking Dead’s Lew Temple.

The script by Jeffrey Butscher and Chip Fraser follows what happens when lightning strikes a stolen scientific vessel during its getaway; it disappears along with the crew and their precious treasure map onboard. Thrust into a vortex, the crew awakens 300 years later on the shore of Pirate’s Cove. Soon, they discover their treasure map is missing, and now in the hands of some local kids.

The deal was negotiated by Quiver’s Larry Greenberg with Elevated Film Sales’ Cassian Elwes.

Here’s the trailer:

***

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired Goodbye Honey, an indie thriller from director and co-writer Max Strand. Also written by Todd Rawiszer, the film will be available on digital and cable platforms May 11.

Pamela Jayne Morgan (The Girl in the Attic) and Juliette Alice Gobin (Look At Me) star in the film. In it, Dawn, a truck driver, pulls into a state park to get some sleep when she is ambushed by Phoebe, a young woman fleeing from an abductor. Dawn is wary of Phoebe’s story, leading to a struggle that leaves her phone broken, the keys missing and nothing but darkness between them and help.

Rawiszer produced the pic, which premiered at Dances With Films in Los Angeles. Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films negotiated the acquisition on behalf of the filmmakers with Freestyle Digital.

***

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles has set its lineup for the festival’s 19th edition that will run virtually May 20-27, geo-blocked to within California. The roster includes 40 films, including three world premieres, spanning 17 languages, with 16 women directors. The fest will launch with the Los Angeles premiere of Fire in the Mountains, Ajitpal Singh’s feature film that played at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The screening will include a Q&A with Singh and Asif Kapadia (Amy, Sienna). More details here.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.