By a Front Row Features Staff Reporter
Minds Eye Entertainment, in association with Bridgegate Pictures and VMI Worldwide, have financed and green lit a six-picture production slate of sci-fi, action and thriller films.
Minds Eye Entertainment will distribute the films in North America, while VMI Worldwide will distribute the titles internationally. The films also will be shot for the new Barco Escape three-screen, panoramic theatrical format, which fully surrounds audiences and offers the ultimate immersive cinema experience. Portions of the films will also be shot in Virtual Reality.
Kevin Dewalt, CEO of Minds Eye Entertainment, made the announcement late last week at the 69th Cannes International Film Festival.
“Minds Eye Entertainment’s strength has always been to deliver exceptional production value with a talented cast at managed costs,” he said in a statement. “It’s a natural progression for us to now finance and produce multiple pictures concurrently to manage budgets wisely without sacrificing first class crews and talented art departments across six films.”
The first production under the deal is the sci-fi thriller “The Recall,” written by Reggie Keyohara III (“Send in the Clowns”) and Sam Acton King. The sci-fi thriller centers on five friends on vacation at a remote lake house, they expecting nothing less than a good time, unaware that planet Earth is under an alien invasion and mass-abduction.
The six-picture slate will be produced by Kevin Dewalt (“Forsaken”) and Danielle Masters (“Forsaken”) and will be executive produced by Guy Griffithe (“WTF: World Thumbwrestling Federation”), Andre Relis (“War Pigs”) and Frank White (“The Tall Man”).
“We are honored to start this collaboration with such a prolific, accomplished producer as Kevin Dewalt,” said Andre Relis, president of VMI Worldwide. “We believe this partnership with Kevin, who has a proven track record working with respectable talent in a variety of commercial and independent films, will only strengthen VMI’s continued growth, while delivering attractive, talent-driven projects to the international marketplace. We are confident this partnership with Minds Eye Entertainment will bring great success to both companies.”
“We look forward to this exciting partnership,” said Bridgegate Pictures CEO Guy Griffithe. “The alliances we have formed will allow us to be at the forefront of some of the newest and greatest technology to give consumers a unique and captivating film experience.”
“We are excited to have Minds Eye Entertainment on board for this new slate of movies that will be created and distributed in Barco Escape,” says Barco Escape Chief Creative Officer Ted Schilowitz. “These films join our fast-growing slate of movies that will release in the new format, as filmmakers continue to explore the creative boundaries of the cinema experience through Barco Escape. We’re looking forward to bringing our exhibitor partners the kind of sci-fi, action adventure, and suspense movies through Minds Eye that we believe are a perfect fit for Escape and will appeal to audiences worldwide.”