Magnolia strikes three-territory deal for The Host

Liz Shackleton in Cannes

25th May 2006

Magnolia Pictures has swooped on Bong Joon-ho's left-field monster movie The Host, acquiring rights for the US, UK and Australia to the film that screened in Director's Fortnight.

Sales agent Cineclick Asia has also sold the film to France's Ocean Films, Spain's Notro Films and Discovery for former Yugoslavia. Other territories closed in Cannes include Brazil and Argentina (Providence), Mexico (Gussi) and Thailand (J-pics).

Cineclick will distribute directly in Singapore and Malaysia and Chungeorahm Film, the Korean production company behind the film, will handle distribution in China. 

Magnolia will line up sub-distributors for the film in the UK and Australia.

"The Host has the potential to become a classic of the genre," said Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles. "The creature is one of the most impressive and imaginative movie monsters I've seen in a long time."

The deal with Magnolia was negotiated by the US company's head of acquisition Tom Quinn, head of legal and business affairs Jason Janego and acquisitions manager Ben Stambler with Cineclick managing director Young-joo Suh and sales manager Sang-eun Chi.