Anchor Bay strikes deal for Darkness starring Amber Heard

Anchor Bay Films has acquired North American rights to Marcos Efron’s remake of the 1970 British thriller And Soon The Darkness starring Amber Heard (pictured) in a reported seven-figure deal.

Odette Yustman, Karl Urban and Adriana Barraza also star in the story about two girls whose bike tour through a remote part of Argentina becomes a terrifying ordeal after one of them goes missing. Jennifer Derwingson co-wrote the screenplay with Efron.

StudioCanal is handling international sales here and co-produced and co-financed with Abandon Pictures in the parties’ first collaboration. Karen Lauder, Lizzie Friedman and Deborah Marinoff Marcus produced and Heard co-produced.

Anchor Bay plans to roll out the film theatrically in autumn. “We are pleased to add such a frightening and entertaining thriller to our roster,” Anchor Bay Entertainment president Bill Clark said.

Senior vice-president of acquisitions Kevin Kasha, Josh Thomashow and Richard Turner negotiated the deal with WME Global on behalf of StudioCanal and Abandon Pictures.

StudioCanal and Abandon Pictures recently announced their second project, a remake of Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1975 comedy Le Sauvage that originally starred Catherine Deneuve and Yves Montand. Lauder and Friedman will produce.