SOLSTICE STUDIOS TAKES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS ON GERARD BUTLER ACTION THRILLER THE PLANE
LOS ANGELES, November 13, 2020 – Solstice Studios has acquired worldwide rights to the elevated action thriller The Plane starring Gerard Butler (Greenland, Angel Has Fallen) and is targeting a June 28, 2021 production start date. The film will be produced by Di Bonaventura Pictures’ Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian, MadRiver Pictures’ Marc Butan, and Butler and Alan Siegel under their G-BASE banner.
This is the first of several projects to come between di Bonaventura and Solstice Studios, who will finance, distribute the film in the U.S. and handle international, including servicing the international distribution deals made by MadRiver International when the project was first announced at AFM 2019.
Based on a story by Charles Cumming and Christian Gudegast, with a script by Charles Cumming, JP Davis and a recently revised draft by James Coyne, The Plane follows commercial airline pilot Ray Torrance (Butler) who heroically lands his storm-damaged aircraft on a remote jungle island in the Philippines, only to find himself stranded in a lawless war zone and the newfound target of ruthless pirates gunning to take the plane and its passengers hostage. As the world searches for the missing aircraft amidst a growing media frenzy, Ray must keep his passengers alive long enough to be found or to find a way out.
The deal was negotiated by Butan, di Bonaventura and Schuyler Moore of Greenberg Glusker with Solstice’s Mark Gill and Karen Barna.
Butler is currently in production on Cop Shop and is fresh off Ric Roman Waugh’s Greenland, which opened successfully abroad and will be released in the US next month. He previously starred in Angel Has Fallen, which was the final installment in the highly successful Olympus Has Fallen trilogy, which Solstice Studios CEO Mark Gill produced.
Solstice’s first film, Unhinged, starring Academy Award Winner Russell Crowe was the first new movie back in US theaters in August and to date is closing in on $43M at the worldwide box office. The studio also recently acquired Joe Bell starring Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg.
ABOUT MADRIVER PICTURES
MadRiver Pictures is a production, financing and sales company which launched in 2016 along with its sales subsidiary MadRiver International. Recent productions for MadRiver include My Son, starring James McAvoy and Claire Foy and directed by Christian Carion which is currently in production in the UK, Worth starring Micheal Keaton, and James Gray’s Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt.
ABOUT DI BONAVENTURA PICTURES
Formed by Lorenzo di Bonaventura in 2002, di Bonaventura Pictures films have made over $7 billion dollars in global box office. They have produced over 30 films including the Transformers and GI Joe franchises; the global box-office hit The Meg for Warner Bros; the espionage thriller Salt starring Angelina Jolie; Summit Entertainment’s Red and Red 2; real life disaster film Deepwater Horizon starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg and the critically acclaimed thriller Side Effects, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Upcoming films include Infinite for Paramount Pictures with director Antoine Fuqua and starring Mark Wahlberg, Sophie Cookson and Chiwetel Ejiofor and GI Joe spin off Snake Eyes directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Henry Golding.
In 2011, the company branched into television production with the formation of di Bonaventura Pictures Television, which has produced The Real O’Neals, Shooter and the forthcoming adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel, Jupiters Legacy for Netflix
ABOUT G-BASE
G-BASE, the production shingle founded by Gerard Butler and Alan Siegel, has produced fifteen feature films since opening in 2008 including Law Abiding Citizen, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen, and the most recent film in the franchise Angel Has Fallen. Worldwide receipts have totaled over a half billion dollars. Their latest films include the critically acclaimed The Vanishing, Den of Thieves, and Hunter Killer starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman. In 2019, their film Them That Follow, starring Olivia Colman, premiered and sold at Sundance in US Dramatic Competition. Greenland, their next production, is currently slated for release in December 2020 in the US, and has bravely led the pack of movies opening in cinemas across international markets gradually and safely during Covid, with #1 openings in almost all territories. In addition to film, the company continues to produce and develop a diverse slate of projects including television series, documentaries, and interactive media projects. They are currently in production on Copshop directed by Joe Carnahan starring Frank Grillo and Gerard Butler and are currently working with eOne to produce an adaptation of the book “Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by New York Times best-selling author V.E. Schwab.ABOUT SOLSTICE STUDIOS
Solstice Studios is an independent movie company based in Los Angeles, founded in October 2018. The studio develops, fully finances, produces, sells internationally and distributes feature films in the U.S. on a wide-release basis. Solstice plans to produce 3-5 movies per year for a global audience—generally in the $20-80M budget range. It also plans to co-finance or acquire another 1-2 films per year for wide U.S. distribution. The company has a partnership with Ingenious Media.
The Solstice team has a $5 billion production track record; the company’s senior team includes President & CEO Mark Gill, Head of Production Lisa Ellzey, Co-Production Head Guy Botham, Marketing/Strategy Head Vincent Bruzzese, Acquisitions & International Head Crystal Bourbeau, Head of Physical Production Dana Belcastro, Business & Legal Affairs Head Karen Barna, Chief Financial Officer Shaun Williams and Head of US Distribution Shari Hardison.
