Focus World, the alternative distribution initiative owned and operated by Focus Features, has acquired US and UK rights to Cop Car out of Sundance where the film premiered in the midnight section and has been receiving rave reviews. The film is directed by Jon Watts and stars Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Shea Whigham and Camryn Manheim. It is co-written by Watts and Christopher D. Ford. It is produced by Cody Ryder, Alicia Van Couvering, Sam Bisbee, Andrew Kortschak and Jon Watts. Focus World is planning a simultaneous theatrical and VOD release of the film but has not yet set a date. In the UK, the film will be distributed via UPHE Content Group.
Produced by Cody Ryder, Alicia Van Couvering, Sam Bisbee, Andrew Kortschak and Jon Watts/ Executive producers Walter Kortschak, Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Frank Brenner, Bill Perry, Tom Valerio and Kevin Bacon. Co-producers Theodora Dunlap, Michaela McKee and Isabel Siskin.
Director Jon Watts
Cop Car embarks on a harrowing crash course full of mayhem as a pair of 10-year-old boys attempt to navigate the back roads behind the wheel of a seemingly abandoned police car that they have no clue how to operate. Blissfully unaware of the impending doom they face at every turn, things go from bad to worse when the corrupt small-town sheriff aims to get his car back at all costs. The kids find themselves in the center of a deadly game of cat and mouse that they don’t understand, and the only way out is to drive as fast as their cop car will take them.
The deal was negotiated by Beth Lemberger, Focus Features’ EVP of Business Affairs, and Anjay Nagpal, SVP of Focus World, on behalf of the studio, and CAA on behalf of the filmmakers.
ABOUT FOCUS WORLD
Focus World is the alternative distribution initiative owned and operated by Focus Features. Focus World is dedicated to bringing audiences the most exciting voices from the world of independent cinema, utilizing marketing and distribution strategies as cutting-edge as the films it delivers. For more information, visit www.focusfeatures.com/focusworld.
Focus Features is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
AUDAX FILMS
Audax Films is an independent production company located in Santa Monica, California. We develop, produce and finance disruptive and responsible content across multiple creative categories, including animation, long form narrative, documentary and television verticals that engage audiences and showcase the best in storytelling and visual entertainment. The company has produced the Sundance-selected film, Cop Car, (2015), the SXSW Award winning documentary, Print The Legend, (2014), and Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, (2013). Our team consists of our principals, Andrew and Walter Kortschak and our creative executive, Isabel Siskin.
PARK PICTURES FEATURES
Launched in the summer of 2010 by Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee and Lance Acord, Park Pictures Features first venture into narrative film was the 2010 Academy Award winning short, The New Tenants. Park has since produced several Sundance-selected films including: Robot and Frank, (2010), Infinitely Polar Bear, (2014), God’s Pocket, (2014) and Cop Car, (2015). Park Pictures Features is a division of Park Pictures, an award-winning commercial production company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London and owned by Jackie Kelman Bisbee and Lance Acord.