Writer-director John V. Soto’s crime thriller The Reckoning will be launched in Australia on September 4 by Selina Chong’s SC Movies.
A six-screen release- three in Perth and one each in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane- is planned for the film which stars Jonathan LaPaglia as a troubled detective who hunts two runaway teenagers who hold video footage that identifies a cop killer.
Luke Hemsworth, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, Viva Bianca and Alex Williams round out the cast.
“We had offers from a couple of other Aussie distributors but Selina was definitely the most passionate and committed,” said Filmscope Entertainment’s Soto, who in May was named best director at the British Independent Film Festival, where The Reckoning had its world premiere.
Backed by ScreenWest and Lottery West, the film was produced by Filmscope Entertainment’s Deidre Kitcher, with Robert Lundberg, Roger and Kim Savill and Malcolm and Kate Rudd as executive producers.
"I contacted John to see if I could watch a screener of the film, which I loved and we decided to acquire the rights," said Chong, who has been distributing films for more than eight years, including Soto's Crush and Jon Hewitt's X and the upcoming Savannah, which stars Chwetel Ejifor and Jim Caviezel.
"We've been involved in the Australian and NZ release of over 50 titles, predominantly VOD. The majority of our titles are from overseas. We've worked closely with a number of Australian distributors handling their DVD and VOD releases."
Lightning Entertainment has sold the film to a raft of territories including the US (Anchor Bay/Starz), Scandinavia (Atlantic Films), the Middle East (Eagle Entertainment), Portugal (Media Page), South Africa (Ster Kinekor), Korea (SB), Mexico (Renaissance), Turkey (Movie Box) and Thailand (IPA).
Chong said, “The film is a fresh and unique thriller that combines footage shot by two teens on the run with the traditional cinematography of a police investigation.”
Using social media as a promotional tool, the producers posted the teaser trailer on YouTube in December, where it had 250,000 views. The full-length trailer has had more than 50,000 views.