With the feature adaptation of Joe HIll's Horns having made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, we were left to hope that -- in addition to positive buzz about the movie -- there would be some news about U.S. distribution. The buzz has ranged from mixed to positive from what I've read, which is ok. Better than ok is the news that the film finally has a distributer.
Deadline reports that Dimension and RADiUS-TWC have acquired the U.S. rights to Horns, a film starring Daniel Radcliffe, directed by Piranha 3D's Alexandre Aja and produced by Red Granite Pictures. Deadline adds that the deal was for multiple millions and rivals the largest deals made for the other Toronto films, which certainly indicates some enthusiasm on Dimension/RADiUS-TWC's part. At this point, there's still no release date, but it sounds like 2014 is still the goal.
Horns stars Radcliffe as Ig Perrish, a guy whose life is complicated by the fact that his girlfriend, Merrin (Juno Temple), was brutally murdered a year ago. To make matters worse, pretty much everyone thinks he did it. And to add to his problems, he wakes up to discover he's sprouted a set of horns. He soon discovers that these horns allow him to draw the darkest thoughts and confessions from people, whether he wants to or not. This leads to some strange moments as Ig adjusts to his abilities and physical affliction, and soon decides to use his powers to figure out what happened to Merrin. Hill's novel is a little bit horror, a little bit humor and surprisingly emotional all at once. It was also paced really well and just the right amount of unpredictable.
Though the movie wrapped production last year, those of us who weren't able to get to Toronto in September to catch a screening have only seen a few photos and a brief clip from the film so far, but now that Dimension/RADiUS-TWC have the rights, hopefully we'll hear word of a release date soon and they'll get the ball rolling on promoting the movie, including getting a trailer out there. As I mentioned, the reviews from TIFF seemed mixed, but Hill had good things to say about the adaptation and Radcliffe's performance in particular, which is a good sign.
In the meantime, if you haven't read it yet, the book is well worth a read. Check it out here. And watch the previously released clip from the film below:
