Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired all US rights to Bruce Beresford’s Australian box office hit Mao’s Last Dancer.

The distributor plans an August 6 release for the true story of dancer Li Cunxin and his journey from poverty to international stardom.

Mao’s Last Dancer was the top grossing Australian film in Australia in 2009 and took AUD 15.44m or roughly $13.9m through Roadshow/Hopscotch.

Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Chi Cao and Amanda Schull star. Jane Scott produced and Jan Sardi wrote the screenplay from Cunxin’s autobiography.

“Mao’s Last Dancer is a hauntingly beautiful film with universal appeal that I’ve been thinking about non-stop since Toronto,” Samuel Goldwyn Films chairman and CEO Sam Goldwyn Jr said. “We are ecstatic to bring Bruce Beresford’s and Jane Scott’s outstanding film to the US.”

Vice-president of acquisitions Peter Goldwyn negotiated the deal with Hengameh Panahi of Celluloid Dreams.

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