Weinstein company acquires disturbing scifi-thriller ‘Apollo 18’

Santa Monica, CA (November 7, 2010) – The Weinstein Company has acquired “Apollo 18,” the sci-fi thriller based on the screenplay by Brian Miller, winner of the inaugural Astana International Action Film Festival screenplay competition, founded by “Wanted” director Timur Bekmambetov. Trevor Cawood is set to direct the project. Bekmambetov and Michele Wolkoff, President of Development for Bekmambetov Projects Ltd. (BPL) will produce the film.

Set to be shot documentary style, the film unearths lost footage from Apollo 18’s undocumented and covert mission to the moon, revealing disturbing new evidence of other life forms.

Bekmambetov announced the contest this spring, in conjunction with Kazakhstan’s first film festival held in Astana, Kazakhstan July 27-July 1, 2010. Five finalists from the United States, France, Kazakhstan, and the UK attended the film festival, which was a celebration of international action films. As part of the competition, Miller was awarded a cash prize and a development deal with BPL.

The film is slated to begin production this December for a March release date.

About The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company (TWC) was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979. TWC is a multimedia company that officially launched on October 1, 2005. Dimension Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is also included
under the TWC banner. During the Weinsteins’ tenure at Miramax Films, the company released some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent feature films which received 63 Oscar wins and 274 Academy Award nominations and have generated billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more in home video sales. In its history, Dimension Films has released some of the most successful franchises including Scream, Spy Kids and Scary Movie.

Forthcoming releases include Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, John Wells’ (“ER,” “The West Wing”) feature directorial debut Company Men starring Ben Affleck,
Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, Rosemary DeWitt, Maria Bello and Chris Cooper, as well as the highly anticipated new installments of Spy Kids 4 and Scream 4, to be released in 2011.