Image has acquired US rights to Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, while in a separate deal Tribeca Film will release Gonzalo López-Gallego’s thriller Open Grave

Atom Egoyan’s miscarriage of justice drama Devil’s Knot stars Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth and Amy Ryan and will open in the US through Image in the second quarter 2014.

Worldview Entertainment financed and produced the story, which is based on Mara Leveritt’s true crime book, Devil’s Knot: The True Story Of The West Memphis Three and focuses on the three teenagers accused of the murder of young children and the impact this has on their community.

Paul Harris Boardman co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Derrickson and Boardman with Elizabeth Fowler, Richard Saperstein, Clark Peterson and Christopher Woodrow of Worldview.

Image’s chief acquisition officer Bill Bromiley negotiated the deal alongside Mark Ward and Jess De Leo with CAA and WME on behalf of Worldview Entertainment and the filmmakers.

Meanwhile Tribeca Film has acquired all US rights from WME Global to Spanish director López-Gallego’s Open Grave starring Sharlto Copley and Thomas Kretschmann.

William Green and Aaron L Ginsburg of Atlas Independent produced with Michael B Wunderman, in association with 852 Films.

Open Grave will premiere at Sitges in Spain this month ahead of its December day-and-date release in the US via Tribeca Film.

The film received its world premiere at the MotelX Festival in Portugal last month and centres on a group of strangers with memory loss who are brought together in a morbid scenario.