Anna Kendrick To Star In STOWAWAY

Anna Kendrick has signed on for the sci-fi thriller STOWAWAY, the second film from the duo behind the Cannes Official Selection Arctic. As with Arctic, the film will be directed by Joe Penna and co-written by Penna & Ryan Morrisson. Morrison will also serve as executive producer. XYZ Films will produce alongside Rise Pictures and augenschein Filmproduktion, with XYZ and CAA Media Finance handling financing and sales at the upcoming American Film Market.

Shortly after takeoff, the crew of a spaceship headed to Mars discovers an accidental stowaway. Too far from Earth to turn back and with resources quickly dwindling, the ship’s medical researcher (Kendrick) emerges as the only dissenting voice against the group consensus that has already decided in favor of a grim outcome.

Kendrick, who is best known for her Oscar-nominated role in Up in the Air and as the lead of the Pitch Perfect franchise, can currently be seen in theaters in the thriller A Simple Favor.

Joe Penna, who became one of YouTube’s early stars through his MysteryGuitarMan channel, transitioned seamlessly into filmmaking with his feature directorial debut, Arctic. The film, which stars Mads Mikkelsen, premiered as part of the Official Selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. North American rights were acquired by Bleecker Street Media (Collette, Disobedience, Captain Fantastic).

Stowaway marks the second collaboration between XYZ and Penna and Morrison following Arctic. XYZ will also continue sales at AFM on a number of titles including Synchronic, starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, The Silencing starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Titan starring Lily Collins, and Vivarium starring Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg.

About XYZ Films:

XYZ Films is an integrated content company whose mission is to empower visionary storytellers from every corner of the planet. As an independent production company and worldwide sales agency, the company is uniquely suited to identify talented filmmakers and bring their stories to life. XYZ was founded in 2008 by Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, and Aram Tertzakian. XYZ recently won the 2017 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore.

About RISE PICTURES:

RISE PICTURES acts as the film and television production arm under the RISE banner and co-produces, finances and produces a diverse slate of films and television programs with storytelling and visual effects demands – creating exciting and immersive new worlds for global audiences implemented by RISE | Visual Effects Studios. RISE PICTURES stands for a wide spectrum of both commercial and innovative cinema and television. The company is spearheaded by Ulrich Schwarz, alongside Sven Pannicke and Robert Pinnow. Currently RISE PICTURES is co-producing Constantin Film’s major international animation production Dragon Rider, based on award-winning author Cornelia Funke’s children’s fantasy novel.

About augenschein Filmproduktion:

Founded in Cologne, Germany in 2008 by Maximilian Leo and Jonas Katzenstein, augenschein Filmproduktion has produced over 20 award-winning films, with a focus on director driven projects that cross over to international audiences. The company’s most recent production is 7500, written and directed by Oscar nominated Patrick Vollrath and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Recent releases include Ana, Mon Amour (Călin Peter Netzer) which was awarded the Silver Bear at the 2017 Berlinale, Huntin Season (Natalia Garagiola), winner of the 2017 Venice Critic’s Week Prize, My Happy Family(Nana and Simon), which had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and Los Perros (Marcela Said) which premiered in the 2017 Cannes Critic’s week.

About RISE | Visual Effects Studios:

RISE | Visual Effects Studios was founded in 2007 by Sven Pannicke, Robert Pinnow, Markus Degen and Florian Gellinger in Berlin, Germany. The award-winning company has roughly 100 permanent staff members in addition to 100 freelance artists in Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne and Berlin, making it one of the biggest VFX studios in central Europe. RISE has become “partner in crime” for directors like Tom Tykwer (Babylon Berlin, A Hologram for the King, Cloud Atlas), Guy Ritchie (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), Gore Verbinski (A Cure for Wellness), and studios including Marvel (Captain America 1-3, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, and Guardians of the Galaxy), Netflix (Dark), Sony Pictures (The Dark Tower), and Europacorp (Renegades). Its sister production company RISE PICTURES develops its own original content and co-produces films and series for international audiences.



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