EXCLUSIVE: Diamond Pictures has reported a roaring trade on Winchester starring Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke, selling out worldwide rights on the mystery thriller led by a UK deal with Lionsgate and a German sale to Splendid.

Helen Mirren

Danny Diamond has closed deals with Studiocanal for Australia, IDC for Latin America, Eagle for Italy, Svensk for Scandinavia, Pony Canyon for Japan, VVS for Canada and Noori for South Korea. France and Spain are expected to close imminently.

Rights have gone for CIS (Volga), Benelux (DFW), Portugal (Lusomundo), Switzerland (Elite), Taiwan (Applause), Thailand (M Pictures), Malaysia (Soraya), Indonesia (Prima Cinema), Philippines (Pioneer), Turkey (Pinema), India (Pictureworks), Greece (Odeon), Israel (Shoval), Singapore (Shaw), and Iceland (Sam).

Diamond Pictures and Bullitt Entertainment are financing Winchester, which is scheduled to commence production in Australia on March 6, 2017. CBS Films holds US rights as previously announced.

Tim McGahan and Brett Tomberlin are producing and Australian siblings and genre specialists Michael and Peter Speirig will direct Winchester.

The story centres on the efforts by Winchester Repeating Arms heiress Sarah Winchester to construct a huge mansion to keep at bay the spirits of those killed by the rifle manufactured by the family business.

When a psychologist arrives to assess Winchester’s suitability to run the family business, a vengeful spirit is unleashed.

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