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Sony Worldwide picks up ‘THE RAID’ sequel from Celluloid Nightmares

Posted Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 - Comments Off on Sony Worldwide picks up ‘THE RAID’ sequel from Celluloid Nightmares
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For Immediate Release:

PT Merantau Films and XYZ Films Producing “The Raid” Sequel in Indonesia

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group pre-buys U.S., Latin America and Spain from Celluloid Nightmares

Los Angeles, CA (February 2, 2012) – The forces behind the wildly popular Indonesian actioner THE RAID are now set for a sequel. On track to begin production towards the end of 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia, the sequel will once again star Iko Uwais with Gareth Huw Evans returning to direct. The film will be produced by Evans through his company, PT Merantau Films, as well as Los Angeles-based XYZ Films. Tentatively titled BERANDAL for the Indonesian market, the sequel will have a significantly larger budget than the original.

THE RAID just had its U.S. premiere at Sundance, where it received glowing reviews after winning the Midnight Madness Award following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.  It will also be playing at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin in March. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing THE RAID theatrically on March 23rd, and Screen Gems is planning an English-language remake which XYZ Films is also producing.

International sales are being handled by Celluloid Nightmares, the foreign sales partnership between XYZ Films and Celluloid Dreams.  Pre-sales are already underway with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group picking up distribution rights for the United States, Latin America and Spain; Alliance/Momentum has pre-bought for the United Kingdom and Canada;Koch Media has acquired the film for German speaking territories; Korea Screen has pre-bought Korea; and HGC has pre-bought China. Deals for other major territories are currently in negotiations.

THE RAID follows an elite swat team tasked with raiding an impenetrable safe house deep in the heart of Jakarta’s slums. As the mission quickly falls apart, the squad finds themselves stranded in the building and left with no choice but to complete the mission by fighting their way out.

Plot details of the sequel are being kept under wraps.

The shooting schedule is to include approximately 100 days of physical production.

“Now that The Raid is set for release we’re beyond excited to be able to go into production and explore this world once more,” said director Gareth Huw Evans. “Expanding the scope and scale of the original, our goal is to continue to find fresh ways of presenting Silat in a cinematic way while enriching the lives of the surviving characters with a more compelling narrative. We couldn’t be happier continuing our relationship with XYZ Films, Sony, Alliance/Momentum and the many distributors that took a chance on The Raid.”

Celluloid Nightmares is also introducing Ti West’s newest project THE SIDE EFFECT at the European Film Market, a sci-fi feature with Liv Tyler starring.

About XYZ Films

XYZ is an LA-based production and sales company founded by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian. In addition to handling North American sales at top-tier film festivals, XYZ is also partnered with French international sales outfit, Celluloid Dreams, for international sales. The partnership, launched in May of 2010 as “Celluloid Nightmares,” brings together the pedigree of Celluloid Dreams with the genre savvy of XYZ.  XYZ has been a leader in the independent film space since it acquired an ownership stake in leading international film site Twitch (www.twitchfilm.com) and partnered with Twitch founder, Todd Brown, to expand XYZ’s sales initiative.

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