Image Entertainment Takes Non-Theatrical Rights for Weir's "Way Back"

A scene from Peter Weir's "The Way Back." [Photo courtesy of Newmaket Films]

Image Entertainment is teaming with Newmarket Films for U.S. rights to "The Way Back," directed by six-time Oscar nominee Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society," "Witness"), the companies said today. The film, which debuted at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival and is being released theatrically by Newmarket nationwide January 21st, stars Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong, and Colin Farrell. The film, Weir's first since "Master and Commander," focuses on escapes from a 1940-era Siberian gulag across five countries to India, where they hope to find freedom.

Speaking for the film's production company, Exclusive Films, which has provided the theatrical release through its Newmarket Films subsidiary, CEO and Co-Chair Nigel Sinclair noted, “Exclusive has been proud since the very beginning to be a part of this project, and to be working with a director as accomplished and talented as Peter Weir, and with an amazing team both in front of and behind the cameras. We are incredibly happy to find a new partner for the film – with the team at Image Entertainment.”

CAA brokered the deal between Exclusive and Image.