Lionsgate sales chief Helen Lee Kim has announced key deals on Matthew Vaughn’s action comedy Kick-Ass (pictured) and Paul Haggis’ thriller The Next Three Days as the EFM gets underway.

Kim has licensed rights for Kick-Ass to Metropolitan (France), Nordisk (Scandinavia), A-Film (Benelux), Leopolis (CIS, Baltics), and Revolutionary (Eastern Europe).

As previously reported, Universal will distribute in the UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Switzerland. Lionsgate will release in North America in April. The film has just finished post production at London based Goldcrest Films.

Meanwhile, The Next Three Days has gone to Kinowelt (Germany), Lionsgate (UK), Metropolitan (France), Medusa (Italy), Tripictures (Spain), Top (CIS), Imagem (Lat Am), S&M (South Korea), Svensk (Scandinavia), and Belga (Benelux).

Lionsgate, formerly Mandate International, arrives with a prestige slate that includes Steven Soderbergh’s action title Knockout, the Bradley Copper thriller Dark Fields, and the Untitled Seth Rogen/James McAvoy Project that Summit Entertainment will release in North America. Jonathan Levine will direct and Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard also star.

Kim expressed optimism on the eve of the market, adding that while buyers remained “selective” there were deals to be done on real, quality projects.

“We have been able to do the deals to get the financing in place [on our slate],” she said. “There isn’t as much doom and gloom as there was a year ago. Hopefully things are on an uptick. We have had such great markets here, every Berlin.

“It isn’t back to normal but I feel like things are coming back. Last year there was some tension with buyers so concerned and not knowing which way they were going to go, but definitely by AFM thing felt a little looser than they were over a year ago.”

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