Ghost House Pictures has acquired North American rights to The Tattooist, the supernatural thriller starring Jason Behr.
Ghost House Pictures is owned by Robert Tapert and Spiderman’s Sam Raimi, who recently visited NZ to talk with the film’s director Peter Burger and producer Robin Scholes about the final cut and to help guide the final stages of post production Ghost House Picture’s Robert Tapert states, ‘We started our careers independently producing our horror films and understand the challenges of these filmmakers.’
Robin Scholes says, ‘Ghost House was very enthusiastic about the film. I think we’ve very lucky to have them managing the US release. They are specialists in horror and thriller films and know exactly how to market and place them in the US market’.
Ghost House Pictures’ recent US releases include box office hits Boogeyman and The Grudge. Like those movies, The Tattooist will be released in North America via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The North American deal was negotiated by NZ Film, the sales arm of the New Zealand Film Commission. The first market screenings of the film are at AFM this week.
The Tattooist is a supernatural thriller top-lined by Jason Behr (D-War; Skinwalkers; The Grudge) and Mia Blake (No 2). It also features David Fane, Robbie Magasiva, Caroline Cheong, Nathaniel Lees and Michael Hurst.
The story centres on Samoan spiritual beliefs and was shot on locations in New Zealand and Singapore. American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr) wanders the world, exploring and exploiting ethnic themes in his tattoo designs. In a thoughtless act he unwittingly unleashes a powerful and angry spirit. In a devastating journey into Pacific mysticism, Jake must find a way to save his new love, Sina (Mia Blake) and recover his own soul.
The Tattooist is an official New Zealand/Singapore co-production between Eyeworks Touchdown and MediaCorp Raintree Pictures.
The film was executive produced by Julie Christie, Daniel Yun, James Dean and Paul Davis. Screenwriters are Matthew Grainger & Jonathan King (Black Sheep) based on an idea by Vela Manusaute. Co-producers are Ng San San and Chan Pui Yin.
International sales are being handled by NZ Film.
[release from the NZFC]