EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate has snapped up US and UK rights in Toronto to the raucous comedy project, one of the sales sleeper hits of Toronto that QED International introduced to the market last week.

It is understood the studio has committed a significant amount to a wide release on the comedy. CAA represented US rights.

Robert De Niro and Zac Efron will star in Dirty Grandpa. Dan Mazer will direct from a screenplay by John Phillips about a soon-to-be-married man who drives his grieving grandfather to Florida and en route learns his elderly relative is a hard-partying hedonist.

QED’s Bill Block produces with Barry Josephson, Jason Barrett and Michael Simkin.

Lionsgate negotiated the deal with CAA for US and QED International’s John Friedberg for the UK.

Sources in the acquisitions community said the project has been one of the most well received of the market. None of the parties in the deal returned calls to confirm the development.

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