GO! (Photo credit: See Pictures).
Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Owen Trevor’s debut feature GO!, excluding Australia and New Zealand where Roadshow Films will launch the See Pictures production on more than 240 screens on Thursday.
The streamer will release the action-packed family film scripted by Paper Planes’ Steve Worland under its original title Go Karts.
Worland has written a novelisation of the film in Australia which will be published in the US later this year.
Canada-based Aqute Media negotiated the Netflix deal, which also excludes China, on behalf of the producers Jamie Hilton and Sonia Borella.
William Lodder stars as 15-year-old Jack, a charismatic larrikin who discovers go kart racing after he moves to a new town with his mother (Frances O’Connor) and dedicates himself to the sport.
Richard Roxburgh plays Patrick, an old race-car driver with a secret past who along with Jack’s new friends helps him to learn how to control his recklessness to win the national title.
Darius Amarfio-Jefferson and newcomer Anastasia Bampos are his best mates Colin and Mandy. Cooper van Grootel is Dean, the ruthless champion and Jack’s rival for the national title.
Damian de Montemas is Mike, Mandy and Dean’s dad who runs the rival team, with Dan Wyllie as Barry, the local cop. Nikki Barrett is the casting director.
Funding came from Screen Australia, Screenwest and Lotterywest, the WA government’s Royalties for Regions Program, Spectrum Films, Create NSW, Fulcrum Media Finance and Media Super.
The deal adds to Netflix’s roster of Australian acquisitions including I Am Mother, Cargo, The Unlisted and The InBESTigators and commissions Clickbait and Glitch.