Sundance: Kevin Bacon’s ‘Cop Car’ Arrested by Focus World

Jon Watts co-wrote and directed the movie, which stars James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford

Focus Features’ alternative distribution initiative Focus World has acquired U.S. and U.K. rights to Jon Watts’ thriller “Cop Car,” which stars Kevin Bacon as a corrupt sheriff whose vehicle is stolen by two 10-year-old boys.

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.

James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford play the young protagonists behind the wheel, and the film co-stars Shea Whigham and Camryn Manheim.

Blissfully unaware of the impending doom they face at every turn, the boys go toe-to-toe with Bacon’s character, who 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 abandoned cop car will take them.

“Cop Car” premiered in the midnight section at Sundance and has been described as a cross between the Coen brothers and Steven Spielberg‘s early Amblin movies.

Watts co-wrote the script with Christopher D. Ford, and he also produced the film with Cody Ryder, Alicia Van Couvering, Sam Bisbee and Andrew Kortschak. Bacon served as an executive producer along with Walter Kortschak, Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Frank Brenner, Bill Perry and Tom Valerio. Co-producers are Theodora Dunlap, Michaela McKee and Isabel Siskin.

The deal was negotiated on behalf of the studio by Beth Lemberger, Focus Features’ EVP of business affairs and Anjay Nagpal, SVP of Focus World, and CAA on behalf of the filmmakers.

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