Sony Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights to “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” a fantasy romance starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, in the first major deal of the European Film Market in Berlin.
The film will be directed by Kogonada, who also helmed the TV series “Pachinko” and the sci-fi drama “After Yang.” “The Menu” scribe Seth Reiss penned the script.
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” marks Robbie’s follow-up role to “Barbie,” the $1 billion blockbuster that she also produced. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film is teased as “an imaginative tale of two strangers and the extraordinary emotional journey that connects them.” Production starts this spring in California.
Imperative Entertainment’s Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas and Ryan Friedkin will produce “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” alongside Reiss and Youree Henley. Executive producers include Kogonada, Ilene Feldman and Original Films’ Ori Eisen. The film is financed by 30West.
“Every once in a great while in this job you read a script so special and original, that you fly to the last page, inspired and uplifted,” Tom Rothman, chairman and CEo of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, said in a statement. “‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,’ by Seth Reiss, is such a script and together with the superb director Kogonada, the perfect cast of Colin and Margot, and top flight producers Bradley Thomas, Dan Friedkin and Ryan Friedkin, it is a project from heaven. We believe the audience is desperate for originality and we feel honored and grateful to all involved to have won out for it.”
Added Imperative Entertainment, “We are thrilled to partner again with our good friend, Tom Rothman, and the great team at Sony. We are big believers in the theatrical experience, which is Sony’s specialty, and we’re excited Kogonada’s creation will be enjoyed on the big screen.”
The package was brought to the studio by Sony Pictures president of worldwide acquisitions Joe Matukewicz along with Virginia Longmuir, EVP of business affairs; Katie Anderson, VP of worldwide acquisitions; Elan Kovo, VP of business development. The team also made the deal in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and 30West negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.
Deadline Hollywood was the first to report news of the sale.