Zwart partners with Max Manus team to form Motion Blur Films

Norwegian Hollywood director Harald Zwart [pictured], who most recently signed The Pink Panther 2 (2009), with Steve Martin, and the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, will team up with Norwegian director colleagues Espen Søndberg, Joachim Rønning and producer Espen Horn to launch a new production company, Motion Blur Films.

“We have three feature film projects ready, and at least one of them should go into production next year,” explained Horn, who has signed such films as Long Flat Balls, Dead Snow and Empty Vessels. “The director – who could be from outside the company - will be named when we have decided which to start with.”

According to Norwegian film magazine Rushprint, the director-producer owner team will restructure their eight-year old production outfit for commercials, Motion Blur, into a holding company controlling Motion Blur Films, Motion Blur Commercial and Motion Blur Digital (for digital/3D services).

Espen and Rønning’s first local feature, Max Manus, took a record 1.2 million admissions domestically. They are currently shooting Kon-Tiki, a $17 million co-production between Denmark’s Nordisk Film Production and the UK’s Recorded Picture Company, about Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.