The Strangers and Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch and The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Gavin Casalegno are to star in Mackenzie Munro’s young adult romance Chasing Red, based on the hit Wattpad webnovel by Isabelle Ronin.
Production will begin in AlUla, Saudi Arabia in early 2026, on the romance that’s set in a US college.
Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales and has completed a raft of deals with Amazon’s Prime Video in UK-Ireland, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, France and Benelux; Capelight in Germany; Leone Film Group in Italy; Sun/Diamond in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and South Africa; Svensk in Scandinavia; and Front Row Filmed Entertainment in the Middle East.
Further deals include Ascot Elite in Switzerland; Monolith in Poland; Vertical Distribution in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria; AQS in Czech Republic and Slovakia; Blitz Film in Ex-Yugoslavia; Green Light Films in Ukraine; United King in Israel; The Film Group in Greece; TME in Turkey; and Star Entertainment in India.
The romance follows a straight-A student who refuses to be the college heartthrob’s next ‘conquest’ even after a chance encounter sparks an undeniable attraction between them.
US producers of the film are Greg Silverman and Grant Torre of Stampede Ventures and David Madden and Jason Goldberg of After producers, Webtoon Productions. Lauren Schacher writes the script.
Wattpad is a social media service and publisher of fiction, such as After romance series, which went on to make $168m at the global box office. Chasing Red is Wattpad’s second most popular English-language title.
“With compelling romance, high emotional stakes, and a massive built-in fanbase, this is a surefire opportunity for international buyers looking to tap into the same global audience that propelled franchises like After,” said Shane Kelly, Mister Smith Entertainment’s senior vice president of international sales and acquisitions. ”It’s a highly commercial package with all the right ingredients.”
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