XYZ Films has hired former 87North and Studio 8 executive Guy Danella to the new position of president of film to lead a slate of high-end theatrical genre films.
Danella will oversee acquiring and producing films. The roster includes Jorma Taccone’s The Trip starring Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Timothy Olyphant, and Juliette Lewis, which is in post and is the English-language remake of Tommy Wirkola’s 2021 Norwegian action comedy I Onde Dager. XYZ Films produces with David Leitch’s 87North and is financing, as it did on the original.
The collaboration was instrumental in XYZ Films bringing in Danella. Prior to 87North, where he produced Universal’s Violent Night and Love Hurts starring Ke Huy Quan, the executive was a partner at Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 and worked on Instigators, Nosferatu, and Hypnotic.
He was previously SVP of production at Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films and worked on many of the company’s Marvel projects, including X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants; and was EVP at production for Gold Circle Entertainment, the company behind the Pitch Perfect franchise.
“Guy has been a friend and collaborator for over a decade,” said XYZ Films. “His taste and keen eye for talent in the genre space make him a perfect fit to further elevate our production slate.”
“XYZ has continually broken ground across all genres with filmmakers across the globe and have made some of my favourite films over the last decade plus,” added Danella. “I am excited to have the opportunity to push the XYZ brand even further, cementing it as a destination for filmmakers to do their best work.”
Upcoming titles from XYZ Films include Babak Anvari’s SXSW thriller Hallow Road with Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys; Gareth Evans’s Havoc starring Tom Hardy and Forrest Whitaker that just debuted on Netflix; true-story exorcism thriller The Ritual starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens coming out this summer; and Miley Cyrus visual album Something Beautiful.
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