THINKFilm has acquired North American rights to Rupert Wyatt's feature directorial debut The Escapist, which was well received at its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year. The company will schedule an autumn release.

Brian Cox plays as an ageing lifer who hatches a plot to break out to see his dying daughter. Joseph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Damian Lewis round out the key cast.

THINK's theatrical division head Mark Urman, who along with vice president of acquisitions Ben Stambler brokered the deal with Goalpost Film's Tristan Whalley and Nicki Parfitt and William Morris' Cassian Elwes, called The Escapist 'an exceptional visual and visceral experience.'

The Parallel Films and Picture Farm production was co-written by Wyatt and Daniel Hardy. Adrian Sturges and Alan Moloney produced and Cox and Whalley served as executive producers.