Young fledgling studios launch all the time, but very few have any staying power whatsoever, and they usually fold within a year or two. Despite an ignominious beginning with the underwhelming likes of “Penelope” and “Never Back Down,” Summit Entertainment now have both a Best Picture Oscar for “The Hurt Locker” and a genuine blockbuster franchise in the shape of the “Twilight” series. Say what you like about the vampire smash-hit (and lord knows we’re not fans), but it’s at least bought Summit the ability to back some smaller, riskier movies. And, fortunately, it looks like that’s exactly what they’re planning to do.
We mentioned at the end of last week that Summit were firming up a deal to distribute Doug Liman’s Cannes contender “Fair Game,” a dramatization of the Valerie Plame affair with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. That deal closed on Thursday, and Summit have also added another project toplining Watts that we weren’t previously aware of. They’ve picked up worldwide rights to “The Impossible,” which will star Watts and Ewan McGregor, and marks the long-awaited return of filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona who dazzled many with his acclaimed 2007 debut “The Orphanage.”
Bayona reteams with the writer of that film, Sergio G. Sanchez, for a drama based around a true story set during and after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. The budget’s set around $45 million, and, while exact plot details are under wraps, we found a Spanish article that states that “The aim of Bayona… is to recreate this natural disaster through a script with hints of horror and mystery and large doses of science fiction.”
We were huge fans of “The Orphanage”; the film even made our list of our favorite films of 2007, so we’re pleased to see the director back in the saddle, and with something that seems far more promising than the third “Twilight: Eclipse” movie, which the helmer (thankfully) turned down (but obviously Summit were interested in him as a filmmaker). Production kicks off in August, so, depending on the visual effects, which are apparently quite complex, it’s not unfathomable that we’ll see this at Cannes in 2011 if we’re lucky.