German independent licence trader SquareOne Entertainment is set to consolidate its new position in the German theatrical market with further acquisitions to be released with distribution partner Universum Film.

After the first two joint releases — StreetDance 3D was released on June 3 and the French hit comedy Heartbreaker will open in German and Austrian cinemas on Jan 6, 2011 — SquareOne has acquired a slew of Hollywood and mainstream European productions for theatrical distribution.

The acquisitions range from Roger Donaldson’s conspiracy thriller Hungry Rabbit Jumps, with Nicolas Cage and Guy Pearce and John Stockwell’s shark shocker Dark Tide, with Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez, to the latest Jason Statham action film Blitz by Elliott Lester, Jonathan English’s historical action adventure Ironclad, with James Purefoy, Brian Cox, Kate Mara and Paul Giamatti, and Eugenio Mira’s fantasy film Agnosia, starring Eduardo Noriega and German actress Martina Gedeck.

The strategy of Square One and Universum Film to release StreetDance 3D at the same time as the World Cup competition in South Africa certainly seems to have paid off given that the film has taken over Euros 5m at the German box office to date.

Meanwhile, leading Swiss independent distributor Ascot Elite Entertainment will be drawing on the services of US major Fox for booking an billing for Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried, the first release by its German theatrical arm Ascot Elite Filmverleih.

After a 15-year break from the German theatrical market, Ascot Elite will release Buried on October 14, 2010.

Future Ascot Elite titles will include J Blakeson’s The Disappearance of Alice Creed,  with Gemma Arterton; Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich in John Curran’s psychological thriller Stone; Walter Hill’s St. Vincent, starring Pierce Brosnan and Billy Bob Thornton; and John Michael McDonagh’s thriller The Guard, with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle; and Debra Granik’s Sundance winner Winter Bone.

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