Amid major movie market upheavals, Leone Film Group is still the main Italian distributor of top-notch English-language indie film fare, spanning all genres with titles from directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. But while in the past Leone Film Group relied on output deals with U.S.
indies, such as Lionsgate and Spielberg’s Amblin, these days “we supply ourselves from whomever has worthy product,” says its head of acquisitions Francesco Polimanti. That includes titles such as recent hit “Civil War,” with Kirsten Dunst, “John Wick 4” with Keanu Reeves as the iconic assassin and the upcoming “Dumb Money.” Polimanti went on a buying spree in May at Cannes, where he picked up a trio from Black Bear Entertainment, including Guy Ritchie’s next film, “Wife and Dog,” set in the world of British aristocracy.
It marks the fifth Ritchie-directed movie that will go out in Italy through Leone. LFG’s other two titles from Black Bear are upcoming action-thriller “Mutiny,” starring Jason Statham, and provocative thriller “I Want Your Sex,” starring Olivia Wilde. Other standouts in LFG’s upcoming line- up are Will Smith-starrer “Sugar Bandits,” to be directed by Stefano Sollima, from Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios; British indie Embankment Films’ “Sunny Dancer,” starring “The Last of Us” breakout Bella Ramsey as a teenager in remission from cancer; David Mackenzie heist thriller “Fuze,” toplining Aaron Taylor-Johnson, from L.