Kate Winslet and Willem Defoe lead impressive voice cast on LUXX Film’s CG animated feature, aka ‘Manou the Swift,’ coming to the U.S. in 2020.
LOS ANGELES & STUTTGART -- Shout! Studios and Sola Media GmbH have teamed up with an exclusive movie deal to distribute the new animated family feature SWIFT (a.k.a. Manou the Swift) in the United States.
Directed by Andrea Block and Christian Haas of LUXX Film, Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic) and award-winning actor Willem Dafoe (Finding Nemo, Spider-Man) lead an impressive voice cast that includes Josh Keaton (Voltron: Legendary Defender, Ben 10), David Shaughnessy (Big Hero 6, Star Wars Rebels), Arif Kinchen (Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Happy Feet), Julie Nathanson (Searching, Avengers Assemble series), and Rob Paulsen (Pinky and the Brain, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
A production of LUXX Film, SWIFT is produced by Haas, Block and LUXX Studios, the VFX studio behind Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence. The announcement was made by Shout’s senior vice president of family entertainment, Melissa Boag, Sola Media’s managing director, Solveig Langeland, and Shout’s vice president of acquisitions, Jordan Fields.
Shout! Studios has secured all U.S. distribution rights to SWIFT, including theatrical, digital, video-on-demand, broadcast, and home entertainment for cross-platform releases. Shout! Studios plans a strategic launch of this movie across all major entertainment platforms and in all packaged media (Blu-ray/DVD), beginning with a theatrical day-and-date launch in 2020.
“We’re excited about this new opportunity with Sola Media and LUXX Film,” commented Boag. “This visually vibrant film delivers a fun-filled cinematic adventure the whole family will enjoy. We look forward to bringing SWIFT to movie audiences.”
“SWIFT’s gorgeously animated and comical story of a bird and his adopted community weaves together themes of family, identity, courage, and adventure. It’s a charming piece of work that families will flock to,” added Fields.
“We are very happy to continue our successful collaboration with Shout! Studios on this very special film,” noted Langeland. “SWIFT is a visual feast with some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen in an independent film. We are now extremely excited about the release in the USA.”
The film deal was negotiated by Jordan Fields and Shout’s vice president of business affairs, Vanessa Keiko Flanders, and Solveig Langeland of Sola Media for filmmakers and LUXX Film.
Movie synopsis
The little swift Manou grows up believing he’s a seagull. But when he tries to learn how to fly, he finds out that he never will be. Shocked, he runs away from home, meets birds of his own species and finds out who he really is. One day, when both seagulls and swifts face a dangerous threat, Manou has an opportunity to be the hero of the day.
Source: Shout! Factory
