Republic Pictures Acquires ‘Getaway,’ ‘Friendship’

Paramount’s Republic Pictures has acquired global rights to Jason Biggs’ directorial debut feature, the tentatively titled action-comedy “Getaway.”

“Getaway,” in which the “American Pie” actor also stars, centers on a hapless husband who stages a home invasion during a romantic getaway weekend in a desperate attempt to save his marriage, only for plan to go very wrong.   

The cast includes Meaghan Rath (“Hawaii Five-0”), Arturo Castro (“Broad City”), Justin H. Min (“The Umbrella Academy”) and Anna Konkle (“Pen15”).

Currently in post production, “Getaway” was written by Jamie Napoli and Joshua Paul Johnson and produced by Motion Picture Corporation of America CEO Brad Krevoy, Charles Cohen, Jimmy Philémond-Montout, David Anselmo and executive produced by MPCA’s Amy Krell.

The latest acquisition is among a slew of new titles the label has acquired in recent months.

Republic Pictures’ “September 5,” Tim Fehlbaum’s news crew thriller revolving around the 1972 Olympics hostage crisis, screened this week at the Zurich Film Festival. It was picked up for release by Paramount Pictures, which is opening the film in limited release on Nov. 29 and expanding it on Dec. 13.

“September 5” fills a niche in Paramount’s upcoming release schedule, which includes such titles as “Gladiator II,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and the Robbie Williams pic “Better Man.”

Paramount earlier this year revived Republic Pictures, a historic movie label that operated from 1935 to 1967, to better define and encapsulate the ongoing feature film acquisitions business at Paramount Global Content Distribution, headed by Dan Cohen, who also serves as president of Republic Pictures.

The label aims to acquire six or seven features a year, with many of those headed to festivals.

Republic Pictures also recently picked up worldwide rights to Edward Burns’ Toronto screener “Millers in Marriage.” The pic’s ensemble cast includes Patrick Wilson, Benjamin Bratt, Gretchen Mol, Minnie Driver and Burns.

The label has also taken global rights to the forthcoming Saoirse Ronan-starrer “Bad Apples,” by Jonatan Etzler, and James Sweeney’s comedy “Twinless,” starring Dylan O’Brien. It likewise has U.S. and Canadian rights to “DreamQuil,” Alex Prager’s forthcoming sci-fi thriller set in the near future, starring Elizabeth Banks and John C. Reilly.

Other titles include K’naan Warsame’s directorial debut, “Mother Mother,” which screened at this year in Toronto; Chiwetel Ejiofor’s “Rob Peace”; Matt Johnson’s “Blackberry”; Mahalia Belo’s “The End We Start From”; and William Friedkin’s final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland.

In addition, Republic Pictures handled Jake Johnson’s “Self Reliance,” which it sold to Hulu in the U.S., and Bao Nguyen’s “The Greatest Night in Pop,” which went to Netflix.