Neon Lining Up UK Film Distribution

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. distributor and international sales firm Neon is rumored to be lining up UK distribution.

Multiple sources tell us the blue chip indie buyer, well known for having picked up the last six Cannes Palme d’Or winners and multiple Oscar winners, has been keen to grow its UK footprint and is now gearing up to do so.

Danny Perkins, the longtime Studiocanal UK chief, is said to be consulting for the company as it looks to spread its wings in Blighty. It’s not clear whether Perkins will lead a more formal operation but rumors are swirling on both sides of the pond. Word is the company will release selectively in the territory, so we’re not expecting a major local operation with many staff, likely something more opportunistic. Let’s see if something comes together — tyres are being kicked.

Neon has previously acquired some projects for the world, but has also more recently started prioritising the UK piece into some its acquisitions. Australia too. It did this on eventual Palme d’Or winner Fjord last year and on Hirokazu Kore-eda’s fellow Cannes title Sheep In The Box. Picturehouse will release both titles in the UK. Madman is handling the titles in Australia.

The UK distribution landscape is littered with the carcasses of would-be distributors. It’s an expensive market. But the upside is high if the model is right. Neon, with its good eye for arthouse festival winners and commercial genre titles, a growing production and international sales business, and a successful U.S. arm fuelled by buzzy marketing campaigns, could be well placed to profit where others have failed.

Distribution vet Perkins ran Studiocanal UK with considerable success for more than a decade. In 2018, he left to set up CAA-backed Elysian Film Group. However, that company’s distribution arm recently went into liquidation.

Meanwhile, the increasingly voracious Neon has been in talks to take over domestic rights to the Cliffhanger reboot via its Decal label in what would be a splashy deal and at the more commercial end of its acquisitions. It also recently acquired, from Amazon MGM Studios, global rights to Luca Guadagnino‘s Artificial.

Negotiations have been underway for some time for the Parasite and Anora outfit to get investment from Middle East outfit Department M, the company formed a couple years ago by Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer with multiple private investors, including backers from Qatar.

Neon and Perkins declined to comment.