Shochiku and Nippon Heraldhave once again teamed up to buy Japanese rights to a US epic, this timebuying Oliver Stone's Untitled Alexander The Great Project from Intermedia and Summit Entertainment.

The deal was sealed at MIFEDby Patrick Wachsberger and Bob Hayward of Summit.

The two Japanese companies,which have teamed up before to buy Gangs Of New York and The Lord Of The Rings films, have been tracking the Stone film for months.Executives from Nippon Herald visited the film's location in Morocco recentlywhile executives from Shochiku recently visited the production at PinewoodStudios in London where it is currently based.

The epic film, budgetednorth of $150m, finishes its London leg at the end of the year before spendinga final month on location in Thailand. It stars Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkinsand Angelina Jolie and is produced by Thomas Schuehly, Intermedia chief MoritzBorman, Jon Kilik and Iain Smith. Stone also wrote the screenplay.

"Oliver and I are thrilledto have these two great film companies distributing the movie in such animportant territory," said Borman in a statement. "Combined, Shochiku andNippon Herald, give this film the best opportunity for success in Japan."

"We are thrilled to be ableto distribute this great film," added Takeo Hisamatsu, managing director ofShochiku.

"We are very pleased andexcited to have an opportunity to distribute this prestigious picture, againwith Shochiku," said Hiromitsu Furukawa, CEO of Nippon Herald.

Warner Bros has North andLatin American rights to the film and recently picked up UK, Australia and NewZealand. Pathe is handling the film in France and Benelux, Constantin hasrights in Germany, Tri Pictures in Spain, Woo Sung Cinemas in Korea, Nordisk inScandinavia and Spentzos in Greece.