"Hanna" Sale is Biggest Market Deal So Far

Focus Feature's new movie "Hanna" was sold to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group, which is quickly becoming a major buyer of independent films.  Sony made an aggressive move purchasing distribution rights for every territory that it could, except for the following places that Focus retains the rights for: US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Israel, Middle East, and CIS.  This marks the largest market deal so far here in Cannes, according to "The Variety."  "Hanna" is an adventure thriller, a dynamic movie that will be highly commercial, and was directed by Joe Wright.  Sony was quick to recognize the potential of this film about a girl trained by her ex-CIA agent father to be the perfect assassin.  The film is shooting for another month in Europe, set for a 2011 release date with big name stars including Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana.  It was produced for $30 million. Focus International is also selling some other hot films at the Cannes Marche this year, including two competition films: "Biutiful" by Alegandro Gonzalez and "Another Year" by Mike Lee.  

-Melissa Evanko