4 February, 2004
Costner Western Rounded Up for the UK
Mick Southworth, CEO of Winchester Film Distribution (WFD), announced today that the company will release Kevin Costner’s epic western OPEN RANGE in the UK. Produced by ‘Unforgiven’ producer David Valdez, OPEN RANGE, which stars Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner and Annette Bening, was a critical and commercial hit in the US and marks a return to form by Oscar winning director Costner. Universal Pictures Limited, with whom WFD has a video and DVD deal, will release the picture on video and DVD later in the year.
Southworth said: “We are thrilled to be working with Universal on a release of this size. OPEN RANGE is a big movie with huge stars which did brilliantly at the US box office. The acquisition also goes a long way to further cement our combined aim of bringing high quality films to a wide audience.”
Co-Producer of OPEN RANGE, industry veteran Jake Eberts, said of the deal: “I’m delighted that the movie is in such safe hands. Mick and his team have that great skill of handling good product sensitively, while optimising its commercial prospects. After the huge success in the States we expect great things from the UK – a market that has always supported Costner – and I’m confident that WFD will far exceed even our expectations.”
Costner recently hit headlines in the UK when he attended the Arsenal vs. Aston Villa football match during a visit to the UK to promote OPEN RANGE.
OPEN RANGE was released in the US on over 2000 screens by Buena Vista, resulting in a box office of over $58m. It was hailed by leading US critics Ebert and Roeper as “one of the finest Westerns since Unforgiven”. In Europe the film premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival where it was selected as Closing Night Film.
WFD will release OPEN RANGE throughout the UK on March 19, 2004.
The film follows hot on the heels of Universal’s successful video release of WFD’s ‘The Man Who Sued God’, which was a surprise box office hit last summer, grossing over $2m in the UK. Starring perennial favourite Billy Connolly, the video has held it’s place in the rental top10 for over 6 weeks and is up to a mammoth 46,000 rentals per week, outperforming titles such as ‘The Hours’, ‘The Magdalene Sisters’ and ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.’
For further information please contact:
Laurence Gornall or Lucy Fleet
on 0207 851 6500
