FilmSharks, ‘Morgue’s Cardozo Set 3-Pic Deal (EXCLUSIVE)
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Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has inked a three genre pic production deal with the HJ Production banner of Hugo Cardozo, writer-director-producer of 2019 Paraguayan smash-hit “Morgue.”
Paraguay-based, René Ruiz Díaz, CEO of Urban Achievers, who produced “Gold Seekers” from “7 Cajas” director Juan Carlos Maneglia, is also partnering on the deal.
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Variety can reveal the teaser for the first of these “Do Not Enter” (“No Entres”), now in post, a found footage shock fest which FilmSharks founder Guido Run will introduce to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market by way of the teaser trailer.
Spanish-language, it records how two young YouTubers, Luciano and Cristian, who break into a sinister mansion in the jungle which is said to be haunted. In their fervent pursuit to satisfy their audience with ever more shocking content, they ignore their instincts. The teaser shows them grappling with their doubts but deciding to continue on because there’s “more than one million people waiting for this video,”. It then segues to ever stranger fears unfolding for them in the house. Toward the end, what appears to be a demon, eyes glowing, grabs one of them. Their clickbait fuelled adventure was a mistake, as it’s they who are now the bait.
On director Cardozo and the deal, Guido Run told Variety: “Director Hugo Cardozo might become an iconic director in the Latin American cinema, because he is super gifted and has the ability to learn different artistic fields on his own super fast, it’s truly a unique case . We are thankful to him and Rene Ruiz Diaz for this three-pic deal adventure”
Turning on a new security guard trapped in a benighted hospital, paranormal mystery-thriller “Morgue” proved 2019’s top local release in Paraguay, selling 60,000 tickets, besting “It Chapter 2” and “Annabelle Comes Home.”
A major territory sales breakout, “Morgue” closed the U.S. (Well Go USA) and Latin America (WarnerMedia’s HBO Latin America) as well as Korea, Japan, France, Spain and Russia.
Screenwriter Eric Heisserer, writer of “Arrival” and “Bird Box,” announced in 2020 that his label Chronology was producing an English-language reset of “Morgue,” as part of his first-look deal with Paramount Pictures, with Cardozo and Rud serving as executive producers.
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