Bleecker Street acquired the icy drama “Arctic” starring Mads Mikkelsen for North America and some international territories at the Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced on Friday.
Mikkelsen stars as an intrepid adventurer who is stranded in the Arctic after his plane crashes. With a determined attitude and sharp survival skills he aims to find a path to be rescued, but when a helicopter seeking to save him crashes, he must make moral and ethical decisions about those survivors too.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday night.
First-time director Joe Penna co-wrote the script with Ryan Morrison, who also edited the film. Maria Thelma Smáradóttir (“Prisoners“) also stars. The film offers vast, forbidding images of the frozen mountains of the Arctic, and Mikkelsen is the core of the movie, as a man drawing on vast inner reserves in his desire to survive, but also demonstrating moral courage in seeking to save a fellow survivor.
Producers are Chris Lemole and Tim Zajaros of Armory Films, who also financed, and Noah C. Haeussner of Union Entertainment Group. Martha De Laurentiis, Manu Gargi and Einar Thorsteinsson are executive producers.
The deal was negotiated between Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy on behalf of Bleecker Street with CAA Media Finance and UTA for U.S. rights with XYZ handling international sales on behalf of the filmmakers.