New Distributor Loves 'Mandy Lane'

[MickBeth]

"All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" was supposed to be released this Friday (July 20) by the Weinstein Co.

Not only is that release date out the window, but Weinstein Co. has sold off North American distribution rights to fledgling German-based Senator Entertainment.

The film stars Amber Heard ("Hidden Palms") as an unobtainable high school girl who gets invited to a remote ranch by a group of guys. It starts off as a fun party, but when the boys start to turn up dead, terror ensues.

Anson Mount ("The Mountain") leads the supporting cast of the Jonathan Levine-directed film.

"Mandy Lane" generated significant buzz at last fall's Toronto Film Festival and Weinstein Co. made it a splashy acquisition. Somehow the film became lumped in with the genre ubiquitously and indiscriminately dubbed "torture porn," and amidst that genre's summer slump, Weinstein Co. lost its enthusiasm.

While Weinstein hadn't promoted "Mandy Lane" at all in the weeks leading up to its alleged release, Senator will put the feature on 1000-plus screens in early 2008, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This will be Senator's first piece of U.S. distribution. The company has finished work on the star-studded ensemble "Fireflies in the Garden" and will move onto the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation "The Informers."

The industry trade paper notes that without putting the movie on a single screen, "Mandy Lane" has been solidly profitable for Weinstein. Not only was Senator's North American purchase price roughly the same as Weinstein paid for the movie's worldwide rights, the company had previously sold off a variety of foreign stakes and will retain home video rights.

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