Cannes: Emily Blunt, Rachel Weisz, Nicole Kidman titles head to Middle East

Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has finalised a raft of Cannes deals with Embankment, HanWay, Protagonist, CMG, Visit Films and Fox International Productions.

As announced during Cannes, Front Row also picked up Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Dheepan from Celluloid Dreams.

Front Row continued a long-standing relationship by securing deals across Protagonist’s slate including Pete Travis’ Middle East-set action-drama Snatchback, which is set to star and be produced by Rachel Weisz, heavy-metal drama Lords of Chaos and Taika Waititi’s comedy Hunt For The Wilderpeople.

From HanWay Films, Front Row secured John Cameron Mitchell’s Romeo and Juliet-style alien punk story How To Talk To Girls At Parties, set to star Nicole Kidman, Matt Lucas, Elle Fanning and Ruth Wilson; family-adventure film Swallows and Amazons with Rafe Spall and Kelly Macdonald; and Wadjda director Haifaa al-Mansour’s Mary Shelley drama A Storm In Our Stars, with Douglas Booth and Elle Fanning.

Front Row also took rights to all films on Embankment Films’ Cannes slate including Emily Blunt drama Bronco Belle; Ben Lewin’s (The Sessions) dramedy Please Stand By, with Helen Hunt, Dakota Fanning and Alice Eve; horror Hush, starring Screen Star of Tomorrow Sophie Cookson; and Australian comedy Down Under.

The outfit struck deals with Cinema Management Group for Corpse Bride director Mike Johnson’s 3D animation Ping Pong Rabbit; Away, starring Timothy Spall and Juno Temple; and survival thriller Numb.

Just Jim and I Smile Back were acquired from Visit Films while from Fox International Productions the company bought the animated feature version of popular Japanese TV series Dragonball Z: The Resurrection of “F”.

Front Row’s 2015 and 2016 release slate includes Snowden, Blood Father, Miss You Already, The Lobster, Brooklyn, Strangerland, High-Rise and The Green Inferno.