New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Nasdaq: CSSE) company, announced today the acquisition of all North American rights to the thriller Poker Face from Arclight Films. Directed by and starring Academy Award® Winner Russell Crowe, the film also stars Liam Hemsworth, RZA and Elsa Pataky, and is written by Stephen M. Coates and Crowe. Screen Media is planning a theatrical release on November 16, 2022, followed by a digital release on November 22, 2022.
Poker Face is produced by Gary Hamilton (Arclight Films) and Keith Rodger (Fear of God Films), along with Arclight Films' Ying Ye and Ryan Hamilton, actor/producer Addam Bramich, Catchlight Studios'
Jeanette Volturno and Jason Clark, as well as Matt Williams. Arclight Films' Brian Beckmann, Screen Media's Seth Needle and Conor McAdam,
David Nagleberg, Walter Josten, Joe Thomas, Mikael Borglund, Romilda De Luca,
Elizabeth Zavoyskiy, Andrew Kotliar, Jay
Douglas and Alceon Entertainment Partners are executive producing, alongside Julia
Stuart and
Laura Grange from Sky.
Set in the world of high stakes poker, Crowe stars as tech billionaire and gambler Jake Foley who gives his best friends a night they'll never forget, a chance to win more money than they've ever dreamed of. But to play, they'll have to give up the one thing they spend their lives trying to keep…their secrets. As the game unfolds, the friends will discover what is really at stake.
"It's exciting to have the top-notch team at Screen Media come on board to distribute Poker Face and introduce this incredible movie to audiences in the U.S. Russell has created a phenomenal film and is joined on screen by a brilliant ensemble cast - we are so proud to be part of this project," said Arclight Films chairman Gary Hamilton.
"We're thrilled to be working with Russell and the Arclight team on this thrill-ride of a movie," said
David Fannon, chief acquisitions and distribution officer at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. "We've been big fans of the story since we first read it years ago, and Russell has crafted that into the entertaining adventure that we know audiences will love experiencing soon."
Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe made his feature film directorial debut in 2014 with The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. He can currently be seen in Marvel's Thor: Love and
Thunder and his upcoming films include The Greatest Beer Run Ever and Kraven the Hunter. He is currently shooting The Pope's Exorcist.
Liam Hemsworth, best known for The Hunger Games franchise is currently filming Lonely Planet with
Laura Dern.
Spanish actress, Elsa Pataky, who is best known for her role as Elena Neves in The Fast and the Furious franchise and Netflix's high octane action thriller Interceptor, will be seen next as
Gabrielle in Sony's Carmen, a modern-day reimagining of the classical opera 'Carmen.'
RZA, a member of the Grammy nominated Wu-Tang Clan, has acted opposite Denzel Washington and Josh Brolin in American Gangster, Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu in Universal Pictures' The Man with the Iron
Fists, and Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in Universal Studios' Repo Men. He also lends his distinctive voice to Universal Pictures' Minions: The Rise of Gru.
Crowe is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson & Christopher, LLP (GGSSC); Hemsworth is represented by WME Entertainment; RZA is represented by CAA and Pataky is represented by CAA and
Morrissey Management.
The deal was negotiated by Seth Needle, executive vice president of Global Acquisitions and Co-Productions, on behalf of Screen Media with Arclight Films, who is handling worldwide sales to Poker Face.
Screen Media recently acquired Renny Harlin's action film The Bricklayer starring
Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev from
Millennium Films, as well as The Locksmith starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, and Ving Rhames. Additional recent acquisitions include worldwide rights to the Bella Thorne-led thriller Saint Clare also starring Ryan Phillippe and Rebecca DeMornay,
Kevin Lewis' follow-up to Willy's Wonderland, The Accursed starring Alexis Knapp and Mena Suvari and The Enforcer starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth. Recent film releases include The Immaculate Room starring Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth and Ashley Greene Khoury, The Nan Movie starring Catherine Tate, Code Name Banshee starring Antonio Banderas, Jaime King and Tommy Flanagan, The Good Neighbor starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the psychological horror film Monstrous starring
Christina Ricci.
