Brandon Cronenberg Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Possessor’ Acquired By Neon

Neon has taken U.S. rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller Possessor, which made its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The distributor will announce a release date in the future for the pic. Well Go USA is handling the home entertainment release.

Possessor, which stars Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean and Jennifer Jason Leigh, follows corporate agent Tasya Vos (Riseborough), who works for a secretive organization that uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies – ultimately driving them to commit assassinations for high-paying clients. Out of Sundance, the movie scored a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Possessor reps Cronenberg’s second feature film as director after his debut Antiviral which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and went on to win several awards, including Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto Film Festival and Best New Director at the Sitges Film Festival.

“Neon is a hugely exciting distributor, and I’ve been eager to work with them for a while now. I’m thrilled they are taking on Possessor in collaboration with Well Go USA, who made production of the film possible,” said Cronenberg.

The film is a Canadian/UK co-production and produced by Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst, and Fraser Ash for Rhombus Media and Andy Starke for Rook Films. EPs are: Arclight Films’ Gary Hamilton, Ryan Hamilton and Ying Ye; Steven Squillante and David U. Lee of Leeding Media; Noah Segal and Adrian Love of Elevation Pictures; Simon Williams, Daniel Negret, and Vaishali Mistry of Ingenious Media; Dave Bishop; Tony Roman; and Doris Pfardrescher from Well Go USA. Possessor is an Ingenious Media presentation, produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, in association with Arclight Films and Particular Crowd. Elevation Pictures will release the film in Canada.

Jeff Deutchman negotiated the deal for Neon with Doris Pfardrescher at Well Go USA, and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers. Arclight Films is handling the global rights and co-repped the US rights.

Below, here’s our video interview with Cronenberg, Riseborough, and Abbott out of Sundance: