Munich-based production outfit Magicworx, a division of the international production and distribution 2K Group, is lining up three English-language projects to co-produce this year.

Locations in Mexico or the South Pacific will serve as the setting for UK director Simon Hunter's thriller Savage Surf which will be produced by Magicworx with the Los Angeles-based sales company R.G.H. Lion's Share, who put up a substantial minimum guarantee against world rights.

Meanwhile, for a second project, John Goldschmidt's South Africa-set epic drama Days Of Fear starring Madeleine Stowe, Magicworx has teamed up with Helmut Breuer's Media Select to create a joint production entity entitled Magic Select which will co-produce the $10m film with a "single purpose" company Intermere Film and Judy James' Los Angeles-based Dreyfus & James Productions.

While Magicworx is a minority partner on Days Of Fear, it will be the lead producer on the $21.5m (£15m) Irish-UK-German coproduction of the family entertainment feature The Adventures Of Santa Claus, which is based on a book by the Wizard Of Oz author L. Frank Baum. Magicworx will co-produce with UK casting agents John and Ros Hubbard's production company What's The Story and LA-based Burzee Productions. Jim Henson Creature Shop's John Stephenson will direct the European-based project about how Santa Claus became a worldwide legend.