RLJE Films and Shudder have announced that they will handle the theatrical and streaming release of William McGregor's debut feature film, the thriller Gwen.
Gwen is a young girl whose life seems to be collapsing around her. Struggling with her mother’s mysterious illness, her father's absence and a group of angry villagers threatening to take her farm, Gwen must find the strength to guide her family through the darkness. But as a malevolent presence begins to take grip of her home, it becomes apparent there is a greater evil that may be too strong to overcome.
I should be paying more attention to how often this happens because this is not the first time this week that we have announced that Shudder has teamed up with a traditional theatrical distributor. It's divide and conquer as they say. It still gives genre fans multiple means by which to see McGregor's film: theatrical, digital and VOD, streaming and DVD and Blu-ray. This is much better than the sole rights being nabbed by a streaming giant only to be available via their service.
RLJE Films has partnered with Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, to bring the highly anticipated thriller GWEN to theaters, VOD and Digital HD on August 16, 2019 prior to its release on the premium streaming platform. Written and directed by William McGregor (“Misfits”), who is making his feature film debut, the film stars Eleanor Worthington-Cox (Maleficent) and Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything).“GWEN has been shocking audiences from TIFF to Overlook,” said Mark Ward, Chief Acquisitions Officer at RLJE Films. “We are excited to go on this joint venture with Shudder, bringing more elevated, thought-provoking content to our genre audiences.”Shudder acquired all North American rights from Great Point Media after GWEN’s World Premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The film also screened at this year’s Overlook Film Festival. RLJE Films will handle the DVD/Blu-ray release later this year.“GWEN is a haunting, beautiful debut by McGregor, elegant and searing in its dramatic horror and frightening coming-of-age,” said Emily Gotto, Global Acquisitions at Shudder. “We are excited to bring GWEN to the North American audience while also continuing to grow our partnership with RLJE.”In the film, Gwen is a young girl whose life seems to be collapsing around her. Struggling with her mother’s mysterious illness, her father's absence and a group of angry villagers threatening to take her farm, Gwen must find the strength to guide her family through the darkness. But as a malevolent presence begins to take grip of her home, it becomes apparent there is a greater evil that may be too strong to overcome.GWEN was produced by Hilary Bevan Jones (“Close to the Enemy”) and Tom Nash (“Partners in Crime”).Ward and Jess De Leo from RLJE Films negotiated the deal with Emily Gotto from Shudder.