Magnolia Pictures’ genre label Magnet has acquired US rights to Takashi Miike’s samurai tale 13 Assassins on the back of recent premieres in Venice and Toronto.

The film is based on the 1963 film of the same name and takes place in Japan in 1844 as a samurai assembles a team to kill the brother of a sadistic shogun. Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada and Yusuke Iseya star.

13 Assassins will close this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, on September 30, and will screen at the London Film Festival.

Magnet senior vice-president Tom Quinn acquired rights from Hanway Films CEO Tim Haslam and the company has set a first quarter 2011 theatrical release.

Hanway sold more than 20 territories on 13 Assassins in Toronto including Canada to Alliance, Australia and New Zealand to Icon, and Italy to Bim. A UK deal is expected shortly.

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