Optimum announces spate of deals

Optimum acquires Larry Crowne, Biutiful,Potiche and Our Day Will Come.

Optimum has announced a spate of deals including the acquisition of Tom Hanks’ Larry Crowne from Vendome Pictures.

Further acquisitions include Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful from CAA, Francois Ozon’s Potiche and Andrucha Waddington’s Lope from Wild Bunch, Romain Gavras’ debut feature Our Day Will Come from TF1 International and David Michod’s Animal Kingdom from E1 International.

Comedy-drama Larry Crowne, to be released by Universal in US, stars director Hanks alongside Julia Roberts in a story of a middle-aged man who re-invents himself by going back to college. Larry Crowne is Hanks’ second feature as director after 1996 comedy-drama That Thing You Do!

Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Cannes winner stars Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez and Eduard Fernández in a story about a father who can connect with the dead. A UK release is set for January 2011.

Francois Ozon’s comedy Potiche stars Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu and Fabrice Luchini in the story of a trophy wife who turns around her sexist husband’s company after he falls ill.

Romain Gavras’ debut feature Our Day Will Come stars Vincent Cassel and Eric Neve, and had its world premiere in Toronto.

Andrucha Waddington’s biographical-drama Lope, starring Luis Tosar and Sonia Braga, was a Toronto acquisition. David Michod’s Sundance winner Animal Kingdom, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and Guy Pearce is set for a January 2011 release in the UK. Animal Kingdom tells the story of seventeen year-old as he navigates his survival among an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.

 “2011 is shaping up to be another exciting year for us,” said Optimum chief executive Danny Perkins. “The scope of our ambition in production is very well illustrated by StudioCanal’s fully financing of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, something very few companies around Europe are in a position to do. I am very proud of our current slate of British films too . We are very committed to supporting the best of British filmmaking talent. The acquisitions we are announcing today illustrate well what we are trying to achieve at Optimum on the distribution front – a real variety of films from the biggest names to the more niche titles.”