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Magnolia To Distribute Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia In North America

Talk about an interesting turn of events.

IndieWire has revealed that Magnolia Pictures has pre-brought the North American rights to Lars Von Trier’s upcoming sci-fi film, Melancholia, at this year’s Berlinale in what has been described as a ‘seven figure deal.’

The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg (who also starred in the auteur’s film Antichrist), Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard and Udo Kier, and will be completed in just a few months.

Dunst and Gainsbourg star in the film, as two sisters who begin to drift apart as the universe ‘spectacularly unravels in what Von Trier describes as ‘˜a beautiful movie about the end of the world.”   Easily one of the year’s most talked about art house projects, the film has been described as ‘a cinematic last supper,’ by SVP of Magnolia Tom Quinn.

Personally, as the huge fan of Von Trier that I am, this one is easily one of my most anticipated films of the year.   I didn’t think it’d end up in the hands of Magnolia, as this seemed right up the alley of an IFC or Sony Pictures Classics, but then again, very few studios will give it the justice it deserves.   Hopefully, and likely, Magnolia will be exactly that.   They’ve done a great job with each film in the past, so this one shouldn’t be any different.

What do you think?

Source: IndieWire

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.

2 comments

  • I think Criterion needs to start releasing some von Trier on Blu (besides Antichrist): Medea, Europa, The Idiots, The Kingdom & Breaking The Waves.