Making Creator Headlines · Page 8
Lionsgate Acquires Wet, Giving the Film a Distributor Before It Gets an Audience
· New York time
Lionsgate has acquired North American and United Kingdom distribution rights to Wet, a film from writer-director Alma Har'el. The cast includes Connor Storrie, Rebecca Ferguson, Odessa A'zion, Rosalía and Lukas Haas, with the rights acquired from Fifth Season and 193, a Legendary Company. A distribution deal establishes who will handle bringing a film to audiences in the covered territories. It is a key business step for a production, distinct from the creative work of writing, directing and performing. A film can have an intriguing group of collaborators and still need a route into the marketplace. For viewers in North America, the acquisition gives the project a recognizable distributor attached to its release. For the filmmakers, it provides a commercial partner for reaching audiences in two markets. The announcement identifies the participants and rights, but it is not itself a verdict on the finished film. The arrangement illustrates how much of the film business happens before a viewer chooses a seat. A title, a cast and a distributor each answer a different question: what is it called, who made it and who will bring it to the public? The audience will eventually get its own question, the one no acquisition announcement can answer in advance: is this what I want to watch?
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