Sony Pictures Classics has bought all rights in North America and Latin America to Michael Dudok de Wit’s animated “The Red Turtle,” following its premiere in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
It marks the third Cannes acquisition for Sony Classics, following Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle” and Maren Ade’s “Toni Ermann.”
The film is produced by Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli in association with Why Not Productions. It’s Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production.
The dialogue-free story centers on a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds. It recounts the milestones in the life of a human being.
“It sweeps you up in fantasy poetry, and awesome visual beauty,” Sony Classics said. “Artistically and commercially, it is a major movie for all ages.”
“Washing up on the shores of Cannes after nearly a decade of painstaking under-the-radar toil, Michael Dudok de Wit’s hypnotizing, entirely dialogue-free ‘The Red Turtle’ is a fable so simple, so pure, it feels as if it has existed for hundreds of years, like a brilliant shard of sea glass rendered smooth and elegant through generations of retelling,” Variety Chief International Film Critic Peter Debruge wrote in his review.
The deal was negotiated by Carole Baraton on behalf of Wild Bunch and Sony Pictures Classics.
