By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Annapurna Pictures Distribution Launches August 4 With Kathryn Bigelow’s Untitled Detroit Project

ANNAPURNA PICTURES LAUNCHES NEW FULL SERVICE MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION OPERATION

Kathryn Bigelow’s UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT will be the company’s inaugural release, hitting theaters nationwide on August 4, 2017

Los Angeles, CA (January 20, 2017) – Annapurna Pictures is launching its long-planned, full-ervice distribution and marketing operation with Kathryn Bigelow’s UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT.  Marc Weinstock, who recently joined the company as President, will oversee the new division alongside President of Marketing, David Kaminow; President of Distribution, Erik Lomis; and their respective teams.  Annapurna has been targeting Kathryn Bigelow’s UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT, a film they also produced, to launch the division.

“Kathryn’s UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT is exemplary of the type of films we will be distributing. I couldn’t be more confident in the team we are establishing to distribute and market the film in a way that is as creative and masterful as her film is,” said Weinstock.

The UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT, directed by Bigelow is a crime drama set against the backdrop of Detroit’s 1967 riots. Bigelow is producing the film with Annapurna’s Megan Ellison and Matthew Budman. Mark Boal, who penned the script, and Colin Wilson are also producers with Greg Shapiro executive producing. The release date will coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the riots.

The ensemble cast consists of John Boyega, Chris Chalk, Nathan Davis Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Austin Hébert, Joseph David-Jones, Malcolm David Kelley, John Krasinski, Jacob Latimore, Anthony Mackie, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Ben O’Toole, Will Poulter, Jack Reynor, Algee Smith, Peyton Alex Smith, Jeremy Strong, Ephraim Sykes, and Leon Thomas III.

“Kathryn took a chance on me six years ago and I’m honored that she has put her faith in me and my team once again.  I could not be more excited to be launching this new part of our company with such a groundbreaking filmmaker, tremendous collaborator, and dear friend,” said Ellison.

This film is the second feature collaboration between Annapurna and Kathryn Bigelow, who previously worked together, alongside Boal, on the Academy Award® winning film, ZERO DARK THIRTY.

Notes Bigelow, “Megan has been such a huge supporter of filmmakers as a producer and the fact that she is now offering a full-fledged distribution and marketing home run by such innovative and creative executives is great news to all of us.  I am thrilled to be working with them.”

ABOUT ANNAPURNA PICTURES

Annapurna Pictures, founded by Megan Ellison, focuses on creating sophisticated, high-quality content that is critically and commercially conscious while still appealing to a diverse audience. By upholding Ellison’s vision to put filmmakers and artists first and preserve their authentic creative voices no matter the genre or medium, in 5 years, the company has garnered a total of 31 Academy Award nominations for their projects, including ZERO DARK THIRTY, JOY, THE MASTER, FOXCATCHER, and THE GRANDMASTER. Ellison is also one of only four honorees ever to receive two Best Picture nominations in the same year, with HER and AMERICAN HUSTLE both earning nods in 2014. Annapurna’s most recent project is Mike Mills’ Golden Globe-nominated 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, starring Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup, which A24 released in December. Other 2016 titles from the company include SAUSAGE PARTY, WIENER-DOG, and EVERYBODY WANTS SOME, with THE BAD BATCH set for release in 2017. Annapurna is currently in post-production on Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT and is developing the film adaptation of Maria Semple’s WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE, to be directed by Richard Linklater. Additionally, Annapurna also partnered with Bigelow on her animated short LAST DAYS, about illegal elephant poaching and the ivory trade, which won the Humane Society of the United States’ Genesis Award in 2015 for Outstanding Short Film.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon