Lions Gate Films International has acquired foreign rights to Race To Space, a true story drama about the first chimpanzee in space, which stars James Woods, Alex Linz, Annabeth Gish and William Atherton.

Columbia TriStar Home Video has domestic rights to the movie which started principal photography this month with Sean McNamara (Three Ninjas) directing. McNamara and David Brookwell of BME are producing and they concluded the Lions Gate deal with international chief Joe Drake. BME had already concluded all rights deals with Telepool in Germany and The Film Office in France.

The film, which has been shooting in Cape Canaveral in Florida and Edwards Air Force Base in California, features Linz as an 11-year-old boy who finds his first real friend in MAC, the chimpanzee chosen for the first "manned" space mission.