We first told you about the Neil Burger-directed thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, starring Daisy Ridley, which Black Bear Pictures, Anonymous Content and STX International were selling at EFM. Today, STXfilms is taking U.S. rights to the feature, putting them back in business with Burger who directed the $100M-plus B.O. hit for them, The Upside, which the studio licensed from Lantern Entertainment.
Based on Karen Dionne’s international bestseller, The Marsh King’s Daughter follows Ridley as Helena, a woman living a seemingly ordinary life, but hiding a dark secret: her father is the infamous “Marsh King,” the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, Helena is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly escapes from prison.
Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith adapted Dionne’s novel. Black Bear Pictures’ Teddy Schwarzman, Anonymous Content’s Keith Redmon and Mark L. Smith are producers. EPs are Black Bear’s Michael Heimler, Syndicate Entertainment’s Cliff Roberts, and Charles Miller. Black Bear is fully backing the feature with cameras set to roll in Canada this June.
STX will distribute the feature in the UK, Ireland and India. US rights were negotiated with Black Bear and CAA Media Finance.
Ridley is also set to star in STX’s upcoming feature The Ice Beneath Her.