TrustNordisk has closed a fresh round of deals on Danish thriller The Marco Effect, selling to France (Wild Bunch Distribution), Japan (Culture Entertainment), Switzerland (Impuls), Russia (Capella) and Greece & Cyprus (Rosebud/Odeon).
Ahead of the AFM, the film had also sold to Spain (Vertigo), Slovakia and Czech Republic (Aero Films), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film & Video), Hungary (Vertigo Media), South Korea (Contents Panda) and Taiwan (Deepjoy).
Nordisk has moved up the film’s Danish release from a planned early February to January 21 instead. With international blockbusters still on hold, Danish audiences have been flocking to local films like Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round.
The film was already shooting in the Czech Republic in March 2020 when the pandemic started. After a break, the team was able to successfully and safely finish the shoot in Denmark this summer.
Martin Zandvliet directs and Mikael Rieks produces for Nordisk; the pair also collaborated on the Oscar-nominated Land Of Mine as well as on Applause, A Funny Man and The Outsider.
Co-producers are Peter Nadermann for Nadcon Film GmbH and ZDF with support from the Danish Film Institute, YouSee, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and TV2 Denmark. Nordisk will handle Nordic distribution.
The film is part of the Department Q series of films, based on the bestselling crime novels of Jussi Adler-Olsen. The first four films – all huge hits at the Danish box office – were produced by Zentropa. The Marco Effect is the first in a planned series of six films for the rebooted series set up at Nordisk.
The plot follows a traumatized homeless 14-year-old boy who is found in possession of the passport of a missing public servant, who had been accused of pedophilia. The film is written by Anders August and co-written by Thomas Porsager and Martin Zandvliet.
The new cast is led by Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration) as police inspector Carl Mørck and Zaki Youssef (Sons of Denmark) as his partner Assad; in the first four films Carl and Assad were played by Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares.
The cast is rounded out by Sofie Torp and Zdenek Godla.
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