There’s nothing that excites me more than a wide range of reviews. After playing the Sundance Film Festival last month, Vincenzo Natali’s Frankenstein-esque sci-fi horror flick Splice received a rash of glowing reviews, along with the negative (see Ryan Daley’s review), piquing my interest more than it already was. Anyways, early word presumed that Sony might score distribution rights for the U.S., only it looks as if Dark Castle may have won out making a huge bet on the Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley starrer. Deadline reports that “Joel Silver and his Dark Castle label is in the last stages of closing a distribution deal for the genetic mutation thriller Splice,” adding, “It will give the film a wide summer release on 3,000 screens, and a P&A commitment north of $25 million, and more likely in the vicinity of $35 million to $40 million.” That’s a HUGE gamble for Dark Castle. Color me excited.
“Clive and Elsa are young, brilliant and ambitious. The new animal species they engineered have made them rebel superstars of the scientific world. In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. The result is something that is greater than the sum of its parts: a female animal-human hybrid that may be a step up on the evolutionary ladder. They think they may have created the perfect organism, until she makes a final shocking metamorphosis that could destroy them … and the rest of humanity.”