The Lodge (2019)

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Sundance: Neon Buys ‘The Lodge’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Neon has picked up rights to “The Lodge,” a creepy cabin tale about a damaged woman and the children she is caring for after it thrilled audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film follows twos siblings who are snowed in with Grace, the younger woman that their separated father plans to marry. Just as the kids begin to warm to their stepmother-to-be, events intercede and threaten to dig up psychological demons from Grace’s childhood as a member of a religious cult. It has been a hit with horror fans since it debuted last week in Sundance’s Midnight section. In a rave, Bloody Disgusting’s Meredith Borders writes, “Every choice in [‘The Lodge’] – every frame, every performance, every sound and edit — is crafted for utmost discomfort, making for a relentless onslaught of unease.”

The movie is eying a theatrical release at some point in 2019. The deal is in the $2 million range, according to insiders. “The Lodge” marks the English-language debut of directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, the filmmaking pair behind 2014’s “Goodnight Mommy.”

Since launching in 2017, Neon has demonstrated a penchant for shepherding edgier indie fare to theaters. Its releases range from the Oscar-winner “I, Tonya” to the darkly comic thriller “Assassination Nation.”

“The Lodge” is a FilmNation and Hammer Films production. FilmNation fully financed the thriller. It stars Riley Keough as Grace, along with Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh as the kids. Alicia Silverstone, Richard Armitage, and Daniel Keough round out the cast.

Endeavor Content negotiated the deal on behalf of FilmNation. There have been a number of noteworthy sales in recent days. “Late Night,” the Mindy Kaling film about a diversity hire in the writer’s room of a comedy show, picked up a $13 million deal from Amazon. “The Farewell,” a comedy with “Crazy Rich Asians” breakout Awkwafina sold global rights to A24 for $6 million; and buzzy docs “Where’s My Roy Cohn” and “Halston” scored distribution pacts with Sony Pictures Classics and the Orchard, respectively.

- Variety