AFM kicks off today [Nov 2] with a number of commercial draws led by heavyweights like Summit’s Louis Leterrier heist project Now You See Me, IM Global’s gangster thriller Dead Man Down with Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace and Lionsgate’s supernatural shocker Flight 7500.

Focus Features International arrives with Woody Allen’s Nero Fiddled and sci-fi thriller The Last Days On Mars, while Summit’s slate include Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave. FilmNation has just boarded two new star-laden Terence Malick projects, Lawless and Knight Of Cups boasting the likes of Ryan Gosling (pictured), Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett.

IM Global chief Stuart Ford and his team will also be touting the mystery thriller Blood starring Paul Bettany, Mark Strong and Brian Cox, as well as London-set Offender starring Joe Cole, the $15-18m Hummingbird with Jason Statham playing a former Special Forces soldier and crime thriller Java Heat starring Mickey Rourke and Kellan Lutz.

Inferno represents Mark Steven Johnson’s terrorism thriller Autobahn and rom-com The English Teacher with Julianne Moore, Greg Kinnear and Lily Collins.  

Foresight Unlimited has Mandalay Pictures’ My Wild Life from Phillip Noyce starring Nicole Kidman and Lakeshore International will handle sales rights on Curtis Hanson’s surfing drama Mavericks with Gerard Butler.

Sales veteran Jere Hausfater is back in action, teaming up with Aldamisa International and Denis Rice’s Visio Entertainment’s animated feature Jock. Voltage has action titles Code Name Geronimo: Killing Bin Laden and Maximum Conviction with Steven Segal, while Nu Image is selling Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace in the upcoming porn star biography Lovelace.

CAA expects heat on the Aaron Eckhart CIA thriller The Expatriate, which Essential Entertainment is selling internationally and is screening during the market. CAA is also courting buyers with the comedy Bachelorette starring Kirsten Dunst and will show a promo. Elle Driver is selling internationally.

UTA Independent Film Group will be seeking to tempt buyers with the Paul Walker post-Katrina drama Hours.

Ron Howard will drop into the market today [2] to talk up his F1 drama Rush, which Exclusive Films International is selling here. Hyde Park International has invited Simon West to present the effects-heavy Gerard Butler-starrer Thunder Run to buyers (Gersh Agency and CAA are jointly representing domestic rights) and the Coen brothers are expected to sneak into town to talk up StudioCanal’s folk music project.

Topics