Warner Bros has picked up rights in France and Spain to Insomnia, the critically acclaimed thriller directed by Christopher Nolan and sold internationally by Summit Entertainment. The film, starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank, world premiered at last week's Tribeca Film Festival and opens through Warner in North America on May 24.

Produced by Alcon Entertainment, Witt/Thomas and Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section Eight, Insomnia was sold by Summit per its relationship with Alcon, although Summit was responsible for the global success of Nolan's breathrough movie, the thriller Memento, which it also represented on behalf of Newmarket Capital Group.

Buena Vista International quickly picked up rights in Benelux, Scandinavia, Latin America and the UK, but France and Germany remained hotly contested territories when an early print of the film was screened at AFM this year.

Summit's sale to Warner not only shows the studio's enthusiasm for the film, but also the dearth of flush independent buyers in France at the moment as a result of the crisis at Canal Plus and the escalating P&A costs in the territory.

Likewise in Germany, where Warner Bros assumed distribution of all New Line product last year, the independent scene is severely depleted after the collapse of the Neue Markt and the bankruptcy of KirchMedia.