Roland Emmerich

Source: Flickr

Roland Emmerich

Lionsgate has reteamed with Roland Emmerich, Centropolis and AGC Studios on Moonfall, the sci-fi tentpole that was one of the heavyweight acquisition titles of the Cannes market.

As the previous collaboration on Second World War action drama Midway crossed $100m at the worldwide box office, Lionsgate announced the North American rights acquisition on Tuesday (26).

Emmerich’s Centropolis Entertainment brokered the deal with Lionsgate and is producing Moonfall, which is scheduled to begin production in 2020. Emmerich will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with his 2012 co-writer Harald Kloser and Spenser Cohen.

The story centres on a mysterious force that knocks the Moon from its orbit and sends it hurtling on a collision course with Earth. With weeks to go before a potentially catastrophic impact, a ragtag team is sent to land on the Moon and save Earth from extinction. Cast is not set.

Centropolis raised equity funding for the project with CAA Media Finance and AGC Studios, which handles worldwide sales.

In Cannes AGC Studios licensed rights in Latin America, Spain and Portugal (Sun Distribution Group), Italy (IIF), Benelux (DFW), CIS (Central Partnership), Eastern Europe (Vertical Entertainment), Middle East (Selim Ramia), Taiwan (Longshang), Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm), Hong Kong (Edko), Indonesia (Prima Cinema), India (PVR Pictures), and airlines (Echo Lake Distribution). Leonine acquired rights in Germany and Switzerland.

Emmerich and Centropolis oversee all aspects of production, financing, and delivery, and are collaborating with Lionsgate and worldwide distributors on marketing and distribution.

Lionsgate’s Jason Constantine, Eda Kowan and John Biondo oversaw the deal with Anant Tamirisa for AGC Studios, and JP Pettinato and Richard Thompson for Centropolis.