PROTAGONIST PICTURES LAUNCHES SALES ON HIGH OCTANE SURVIVAL THRILLER ‘DIE BY NIGHT’ AHEAD OF EUROPEAN FILM MARKET
Leading sales and finance company Protagonist Pictures is launching international sales ahead of the upcoming EFM on the dystopian survival thriller By Night, starring Isabelle Fuhrman (Warner Bros.’ Orphan, The Hunger Games, Kevin Costner’s Horizon: an American Saga), Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody, Unicorns), and Scoot McNairy (Searchlight Pictures’ A Complete Unknown and Nightbitch, Speak no Evil). The announcement came today from Dave Bishop, CEO of Protagonist Pictures. UTA Independent Film Group are handling North American rights.
Die By Night is written and directed by Emmy Award nominee Rod Blackhurst (Blood for Dust, Universal Pictures’ Night Swim, Netflix’s Amanda Knox), based on the prequel screenplay The Chosen Few, written by Blackhurst and J. Hunter Richardson. Creature design is spearheaded by Emmy Award-winning concept artist Vincent Proce, known for his design work on blockbuster projects including Warner Bros’ It Chapter 2, and Paramount Pictures’ Smile and Smile 2.
The film is produced by Witchcraft Motion Picture Company’s Noah Lang (Blood for Dust, Sleeping Dogs), Story in the Sky’s Ben Shields Catlin (Sam & Kate, Stealing Pulp Fiction), and executive produced by Dave Bishop and George Hamilton of Protagonist Pictures.
In a post-apocalyptic world where long stretches of ‘Night’ plunge the world into chaos, creatures known as The Horde hunt in the dark. Runaway Lucia (Fuhrman) must find her way to The Wall where safety awaits. An injured but determined Barry (Hardy) promises to get them there. But The Horde are not the only threat out there. The Clans – tribes of people whose survival and prosperity depends on selling and trading humans to gain strength in numbers – also stand in their way. In this propulsive thriller playing out over the course of one night, the only way to survive the to see a new day is to trust each other and stay in the light until they make it to The Wall.
“Die By Night promises to be a nail-biting, action-packed thriller with non-stop jump scares,” said Bishop. “Rod’s vision of a dark, dystopian, post-apocalyptic new world, combined with the terrifying hordes of creatures conceived by the industry’s top designers, will reach out and grab the audience not letting go until the credits roll.”
“This film was born from the fears and anxieties that came with becoming a father for the first time, the overwhelming desire to somehow protect my daughter from the dark forces that exist in the world – from the dangerous ideologies that fuel the self-righteous, and of the impossible choices we must make in the face of chaos,” Blackhurst said in a statement. “We’re pleased as punch to be partnering with Protagonist whose taste and prestige precedes them; they make the kinds of films I love and immediately understood the duality of Die By Night as both a mad genre film and a story about us and the times we’re living in but depicted in the most fantastical ways.”
Added Shields Catlin and Lang, “Die By Night is the type of film we wished we could have seen at our neighborhood theatre when we were kids, begging our older brothers to sneak us in somehow – visceral, hardcore, relentless, and scary. The sort of film that we can’t show our kids just yet, but can’t wait until they are old enough that we can.”
Rod Blackhurst is best known as the Emmy nominated director and producer of the Netflix Original Documentary Amanda Knox, and the Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award Winning feature, Here Alone. Blackhurst also directed and showran the Peacock docuseries “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise,” and directed and produced the action thriller Blood For Dust, starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington, Josh Lucas, and Stephen Dorff. Blood For Dust was produced by Witchcraft Motion Picture Company, the film and television studio Blackhurst runs with partner Noah Lang. He is currently in post-production on the New French Extremity inspired horror film Dolly, starring Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee and American professional wrestler, Max The Impaler.
Isabelle Fuhrman is repped by UTA, Luber Roklin Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein; Ben Hardy is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment, Independent Talent Group, and Tapestry London;
Scoot McNairy is repped by UTA and The Group Management.
Blackhurst is repped by UTA, Antonio D’Intino for SpectreVision Artists, and Victoria Cook and Ben Moskowitz for Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz.
ABOUT PROTAGONIST PICTURES
Led by Dave Bishop alongside George Hamilton and James Pugh, Protagonist Pictures is a sales, finance, and production company with a proven track record in outstanding films and commercial successes. Based in the UK, the company handles films from around the world, always maintaining a strong focus on filmmakers with exceptional vision and storytelling skills. Protagonist Pictures has championed groundbreaking filmmakers since its inception, including Chloe Zhao, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sean Baker, Rose Glass, Taiki Waititi and Pawel Pawlikowski.
Most recently Protagonist Pictures hosted the Sundance world premiere of Sophie Hyde’s new multi-generational family feature, Jimpa starring Olivia Colman, John Lithgow and introducing newcomer Aud Mason Hyde. The film screened in the Premieres section. And premiering in the upcoming 2025 Berlinale they have the neo-noir thriller Islands, directed by Jan-Ole Gerster and starring Sam Riley and Stacy Martin.
Protagonist handled international sales on Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, which premiered in Venice to stellar reviews, and garnered 3 Golden Globes Awards including Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama, and Best Director. The film is currently nominated for 9 BAFTA awards, including Best film, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director, and nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay.
The company handled sales and executive produced Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, starring 4x Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, which premiered in Sundance and Berlin to critical acclaim, and was recently nominated for 2 BAFTA award including Best British Film and Best Actress.
Protagonist Pictures’ current slate also features Monitor, the high-concept horror directed by Ryan Polly and Matt Black and produced by Temple Hill, the team behind the megahit Smile Franchise. Cameras start rolling on the project in March 2025; Brian Cox’s heartwarming Scottish comedy Glenrothan, starring Cox alongside Alan Cumming; Adam Scott’s edge of your seat thriller Double Booked, featuring Scott, Zazie Beetz, Sterling K. Brown and Alexandra Daddario; the charming NY-set comedy Encore, produced by Temple Hill and directed by Simon Curtis, starring Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Henry Winkler and Don Johnson. Cameras start rolling on the sparkling project in Spring 2025. Protagonist also handled international sales on Eli Craig’s highly anticipated horror adaptation Clown in a Cornfield, also from the producers of Smile. Additional titles include Thordur Palsson’s elevated horror The Damned, starring Odessa Young and Joe Cole, and premiering at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, both of which Protagonist also executive produced. The ensemble comedy Rumours, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, led by Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and Sister Midnight, starring Radhika Apte, Ashok Pathak and Chhaya Kadam, and directed by Karan Kandhari, which also premiered in Cannes at the Director’s Fortnight.
