Spanish sales outfit Sogepaq and France's Wild Bunch have closed a string of sales on the highly anticipated Spanish-language thriller The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo Del Diablo) from director Guillermo del Toro. Sogepaq and Wild Bunch are jointly handling international sales on the film outside Latin America.

All rights were sold to Germany (Kinowelt), Italy (Lantia), France (StudioCanal), Japan (Asmik Ace) and Korea (KN Culture). Other all rights deals were closed for Benelux, Greece, Turkey and Hong Kong. The film is co-produced by the Almodovar brothers' Madrid-based production outfit El Deseo and London and Mexico City-based The Tequila Gang. A psychological thriller set in an orphanage in Civil War-torn Spain, Backbone stars Federico Luppi, Marisa Paredes and Eduardo Noriega. The film is scheduled to premiere in Spain next March.

Sogepaq, which holds all rights for Spain on the film, announced last month that it would join Wild Bunch on the international sales of Backbone.