‘2.22’
Director Paul Currie’s 2.22, a New York-set romantic thriller starring Teresa Palmer, Game of Thrones’ Michiel Huisman and Sam Reid, will be the first premium VOD release this year.
The Icon Film Distribution release will begin a limited theatrical run at Dendy Cinemas on February 22 and will be available to rent on Dendy Direct for $19.95 from February 28 to April 17.
Screen Australia this week revealed it had invested $1.19 million in the production, which has been sold to virtually all major international territories by Good Universe.
Head of production Sally Caplan said the agency viewed the investment in part as a talent escalator for the LA-based producer Currie, for whom 2.22 was his second directing effort after One Perfect Day in 2004. Caplan added, “The project had scale. It was market driven and had the potential to be commercial.”
Huisman plays Dylan, an air traffic controller in New York who nearly causes a fatal mid-air collision at the stroke of 2.22.
He crosses paths with Sarah (Palmer), who was a passenger on the plane, they both feel a sense of connection but he finds events keep recurring at 2.22 pm every day.
Reid plays Jonas, a New York-based artist who is an ex-boyfriend of Sarah’s. The cast includes Richard Davies as a fellow air traffic controller, John Waters as Dylan’s boss, Maeve Dermody as his ex-girlfriend, Kerry Armstrong and Remy Hii.
Visual effects houses Cutting Edge, Cumulus and Plural were hired to recreate JFK airport and Grand Central Station. The DoP is David Eggby.
Kriv Stenders’ Australia Day was the first PVOD release on Dendy Direct and Foxtel Store, followed by Universal Home Entertainment’s The Girl with All the Gifts and Transmission Films’ The Limehouse Golem.
Three Icon titles, Takashi Miike’s Blade of the Immortal and US crime thrillers Shot Caller and Sweet Virginia followed that route in November before a hiatus during the school holidays.
Foxtel has an arrangement to release titles of its choosing on Foxtel Store at the same time as Dendy Direct.
Currie’s film, which he co-wrote with American Todd Stein, grossed $1.2 million in Italy and made decent sums theatrically in markets including Russia, the Netherlands and Peru. It went straight to video in the US, Germany and Spain.