Lions Gate Films Fetches FIDO

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lions Gate Films, the motion picture production, acquisition and distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment Toronto, announced today that it will co-produce and distribute FIDO, an Anagram Pictures film to be produced by Blake Corbet and Mary Anne Waterhouse. Starring Carrie-Anne Moss (THE MATRIX Trilogy), Billy Connolly (THE LAST SAMURAI), Tim Blake Nelson (MINORITY REPORT and Lions Gate's "O") and Dylan Baker (SPIDER MAN 2), the film begins principal photography tomorrow.

FIDO is co-written and directed by Andrew Currie. Peter Block, Lions Gate President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions, and Jason Constantine, Lions Gate Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, will oversee the production for Lions Gate Films, which is handling worldwide distribution outside of Canada. Nick Meyer, President of Lions Gate International, will spearhead international sales.

FIDO is a highly-stylized dark horror comedy set in a small town that has been frozen in an idyllic world reminiscent of the 1950's. Here, the sun shines every day, everybody knows their neighbor, and rotting zombies deliver the mail. In this quaint, Rockwell-esque town lives a boy, Timmy and his best friend -- a six-foot-tall domesticated zombie named Fido.

Anagram producers Blake Corbet and Mary Anne Waterhouse are both thrilled with Lions Gate's involvement. "Lions Gate Entertainment has proven time and again that they are the best in distributing original, groundbreaking films. We are excited by the possibility of making FIDO a breakout film in the U.S. market."

"FIDO is a terrifically entertaining project that combines the sensibilities of Lions Gate with the personality of the talented filmmakers at Anagram. FIDO is quirky and scary and one of our favorite scripts of recent years," said Block.

The deal was put together by Corbet and Waterhouse on behalf of Anagram Pictures, and by Block, Sergei Yershov, Co-President of Lions Gate International, Wendy Jaffe, Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Acquisitions and Sam Wollman, Director of Business Affairs, Lions Gate Films on behalf of Lions Gate. The film will be made with the support of Telefilm Canada.

Currie's directorial debut was the critically acclaimed "Mile Zero", while he also produced the hit comedy "The Delicate Art of Parking," one of Canada's top grossing English-language films of 2004.

FIDO marks the second time Lions Gate and Anagram have joined forces. Currently, Lions Gate Entertainment is achieving success with the Canadian DVD release of Anagram's "The Delicate Art of Parking."

The Canadian distributor, TVA Films, has been behind FIDO since its inception. Says John Fulton, Executive Director of Distribution for TVA, "I have been excited about the title, the concept and the evolution of FIDO for quite a while. I'm sure that this deal will be extremely beneficial for all."

Telefilm Canada is supporting the film by making its largest investment in a Canadian production to date. The producers noted that filming will take place in the interior of British Columbia thanks to the equity support of British Columbia Film and the recently announced changes to BC's Provincial tax credit legislation.

Anagram Pictures was formed in 1997 by Andrew Currie, Trent Carlson and Blake Corbet with the mandate of creating ground-breaking, market-worthy feature films. Anagram has produced two feature films, and the looming break-out potential of FIDO, Anagram Pictures has seven other feature projects and two television productions in active development.

Lions Gate is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library is one of the largest in the entertainment industry. The Lions Gate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

http://www.lgf.com/ Sarah Greenberg Russell Nelson 310-255-3856 310-255-3858 sgreenberg@lgf.com rnelson@lgf.com