Magnolia Pictures has picked up North American rights to Gustav Möller´s “The Guilty” at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film centers on an alarm dispatcher and former police officer who answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. After the call disconnects, the dispatcher tries to piece together the clues to find the woman only to discover that he is grappling with a crime that is far more serious and expansive than he imagined.
In a largely favorable review, Variety´s Guy Lodge compared the film to “Locke” and “The Call,” two telephonic dramas, and called it “...a high-concept, low-budget and skilfully muscle-tensing Danish thriller to which you can imagine more than a couple of eager Tinseltown execs angling for the remake rights.”
In a statement, Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures said, “Gustav Möller has devised an ingeniously executed thriller with ‘The Guilty.´ This is an incredibly accomplished feature debut, and Magnolia is excited to introduce him to American audiences.”
The film´s cast includes Jacob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen, Omar Shargawi, and Katinka Evers-Jahnsen.
The deal was negotiated by John Von Thaden, SVP of acquisitions at Magnolia Pictures, and Susan Wendt, director of international sales & marketing at TrustNordisk. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.