Vertical Entertainment Launches UK Distribution Arm With Genre Slate Including ‘Polaroid’, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Remake, ‘Only’ & More — AFM

Andreas Wiseman

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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. indie distributor Vertical Entertainment is launching a genre-leaning UK distribution arm during the American Film Market.

The slate for 2020 will include Polaroid, previously of Dimension Films; LD Entertainment’s re-make Jacob’s Ladder; XYZ Films’ Code 8; Peter Facinelli-directed mystery thriller Hour Of Lead; Freida Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr. sci-fi film Only; and Skylin3s, the third installment in the Skyline franchise.

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Also among the slate will be genre fare including Rock Paper Dead, Dark Light, Inmate Zero, The Host, True Fiction, Bit, and crime thriller Blood On Her Name starring Will Patton (Armageddon).

Vertical partners Rich Goldberg, Mitch Budin, and Peter Jarowey made the announcement. Vertical’s Head of international Sales, Ryan Keller, and Josh Spector, Vice President, Acquisitions & Distribution, will be overseeing the acquisitions strategy for the territory. Releases will be predominantly aimed at premium VOD.

Vertical will also handle all English-speaking rights for Polaroid, Skylin3s, and Blood On Her Name; English speaking rights excluding Canada for True Fiction; worldwide rights for Bit; worldwide rights excluding U.S. for Rock Paper Dead; and worldwide rights excluding Canada, Germany, Middle East, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, S. Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia for Code 8.

“We’re excited to bring this new slate of films to the territory [UK] and are looking forward to bringing the same level of care and transparency that we’ve built in the states with producers, financiers, and accounts, to our new UK partners,” said Rich Goldberg, co-president and partner at Vertical Entertainment.

He continued, “This gives us an opportunity to leverage the size and scope of our US releases by having them coincide with the UK as well, allowing for a better use of marketing and PR tactics across a broader reach. With everything trending towards global, this is the correct first step to be able to better compete in this ever-changing business.”

From the executive producer of The Ring and the producer of It, Polaroid stars Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale), Kathryn Prescott (A Dog’s Journey), Javier Botet (It), and Katie Stevens (The Bold Type). Pic follows a high school loner who stumbles upon a mysterious and deadly polaroid camera.

In elevated sci-fi romance Only, starring Leslie Odom Jr. (Murder On The Orient Express) and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), a young couple’s relationship is severely tested after a comet releases a mysterious virus that begins to kill women. The film marks writer/director Takashi Doscher’s second feature film and also stars The Walking Dead’s Chandler Riggs, Jayson Warner Smith and Joshua Mikel. Vertical Entertainment plans to release the film in theaters and on VOD Q1, 2020.

A reimagining of the 1990 thriller, Jacob’s Ladder stars Michael Ealy (The Intruder), Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy), Nicole Beharie (Shame), and Karla Souza (Instructions Not Included). Pic follows a man struggling to maintain his sanity as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images.

Crowd-funded sci-fi film Code 8 stars cousins Robbie Amell (The Flash) and Stephen Amell (Arrow) who also serve as executive producers. The movie follows a desperate young man possessing special powers who clashes with a militarized police force after committing a petty crime

Hour Of Lead is the story of a husband and wife who will stop at nothing to find their missing daughter, who disappeared on a family camping trip. Starring are Thomas Jane (Predator), Anne Heche (Donnie Brasco) and Peter Facinelli (Twilight).

Skylin3s, the third installment of the Skyline franchise, stars Lindsey Morgan (The 100) alongside Jonathan Howard (Godzilla: King of Monsters), Alexander Siddig (Game of Thrones), Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick) and James Cosmo (Chernobyl). In the movie, when a virus threatens to wipe out Earth, a super powered hybrid (Morgan) must lead a team of elite soldiers on a mission to the aliens’ world in order to save what’s left of humanity. Pic is produced by Matthew Chausse, Liam O’Donnell, Colin Strause, and Greg Strause and Ingenious Media, LipSync Productions, Mirabelle Pictures Productions, Artbox, and Fasten Films.

Vertical’s 2019 U.S. distribution slate included movies The Operative, Human Capital, Yes, God, Yes and The Professor And The Madman.

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