Film News Roundup: Sarah Bolger’s ‘A Good Woman Is Hard to Find’ Bought by Film Movement

Dave McNary

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In today’s film news roundup, “A Good Woman Is Hard to Find” and “After Parkland” find homes, Jack Johnson is honored, AGC closes deals on Neill Blomkamp’s latest and Paramount is in talks for a “Power to the People” project.

ACQUISITIONS

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Film Movement has bought North American rights to the thriller “A Good Woman Is Hard to Find,” Variety has learned exclusively.

Sarah Bolger stars as a widowed young mother in Northern Ireland desperate to discover who brutally murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Dismissing the crime as thugs killing each other, the police won’t help. After being coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer, she’s forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving into a take-charge vigilante.

“A Good Woman Is Hard to Find” will be released day-and-date in theaters and on digital and cable VOD platforms in 2020.

Abner Pastell directed from a script by Ronan Blaney.

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ABC Documentaries and Kino Lorber have bought North American distribution rights to Emily Taguchi and Jake Lefferman’s documentary “After Parkland.”

Kino Lorber will release the film with Academy Award-qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 29 and a wider theatrical opening in the first quarter.

The film focuses on the aftermath of the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead.

The film features David Hogg, who recorded his class during the attack and became the face of the Never Again movement; survivors Brooke Harrison and Sam Zeif; Andrew Pollack, the father of 18-year old Meadow, who was killed after being shot nine times; and the loved ones of 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver.

LIFETIME AWARD

Jack Johnson will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Guild at the 24th Excellence in Production Design Awards.

The event will be held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on Feb. 1. The award is presented by the ADG Illustrators & Matte Artists Council Chair.

Johnson has worked in the motion picture industry as a production illustrator, conceptual artist or art director on more than 60 features including “Goonies,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Jurassic Park III,” “Pleasantville,” “Big Fish,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Independence Day,” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”

AFM DEALS

AGC Studios has closed many key territory sales for Neill Blompkamp’s “Inferno,” which stars Taylor Kitsch.

Kitsch will portray a police officer investigating a seemingly ordinary murder, which turns into a hunt for an otheworldly killer.

Deals closed include France (Metropolitan), Germany & Switzerland (Leonine), Greece (Odeon), Portugal (NOS Lusomundo), Spain (Tripictures), UK (Entertainment Film Distribution), Eastern Europe (Vertical Entertainment), and Russia (Top Film). CAA Media Finance brokered the AGC financing deal and is co-repping domestic and Chinese rights.

PROJECT LAUNCH

Paramount is in talks to acquire the historical drama “Power to the People” with George Tillman, Jr. directing from a Gregory Allen script.

The project will center on Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 to protest police brutality against African Americans. Tillman is producing with Ben Affleck.

The project is based on the Stanley Nelson documentary “Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.” Tillman most recently directed and produced “The Hate U Give.” The news was first reported by Deadline.

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