New Video’s Flatiron Film Company is to partner with Variance Films on a November US theatrical release for Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Tropa De Elite 2), the hit Brazilian crime thriller recently named as Brazil’s submission for the foreign language film Oscar.

The film will open in New York on Nov 11 and Los Angeles on Nov 18, with a platform expansion to top markets across the country to follow.

Directed and co-written by Jose Padilha, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within was Brazil’s highest earning film of last year, out-grossing Avatar and eventually taking more than $70m, making it the best performing film of all time in the territory. It has screened at festivals including Sundance, Berlin and this week’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. New Video acquired US rights in April.

In a statement, New Video co-president Steve Savage said: “We’ve found an apt partner in Variance for tapping into US audiences and building on the film’s incredible run in Brazil.”

Variance founder Dylan Marchetti described the thriller as “the rare film that truly has it all.”

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