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Zehn Jahre nach dem weltweiten Verkaufsschlager „Northmen: A Viking Saga“ kehrt Ascot Elite in die Welt der Wikinger zurück: Für „Seven for Valhalla“, eine lose Variation von „Die sieben Samurai“, wurde abermals das Autorenduo Bastian Zach und Matthias Bauer engagiert.

Das Autorenduo Bastian Zach und Matthias Bauer bei der „Northmen“-Premiere (Credit: Ascot Elite)

„Northmen: A Viking Saga“ war 2014 ein mutiges Projekt für die führende Schweizer Filmfirma Ascot Elite Entertainment, ein mit internationalem Cast realisiertes Schlachtengemälde: Unter der Regie von Claudio Fäh spielten damals Tom Hopper, Ed Skrein, James Norton, Ken Duken, Anatole Taubman und Johan Hegg, der Frontmann der populären Metal-Band Amon Amarth. Das Risiko zahlte sich aus: Der Titel konnte nach Angaben der Firma in 54 Länder verkauft werden.

Nun kehrt Ascot Elite zurück in die Welt der Wikinger, mit einem Stoff, der sich grob an der Handlung von „Die sieben Samurai“ orientiert: Für „Seven für Valhallah“ konnte abermals...

Exclusive: Ascot Elite Entertainment, which previously enjoyed success with Northmen – A Viking Saga, has announced a new Viking project, provisionally entitled Seven for Valhalla.

The project reunites the Swiss production group with writing duo Bastian Zach and Matthias Bauer, who co-wrote Northmen – A Viking Saga.

Their screenplay is set to take inspiration from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic action picture Seven Samurai, about seven samurai who muster their forces to defend their village from bandits.

The project comes a decade after Ascot Elite successfully made its first foray into production with the 2014 hit Northmen – A Viking Saga, directed by Claudio Fäh and starring Tom Hopper, Ed Skrein, James Norton and Johan Hegg.

In between times, writing partners Zach and Bauer have enjoyed success with their screenplay for the Ard/Orf crime series Death In The Prater, which achieved record viewing figures, and were also instrumental in shaping the concept...

Stars: Jeremias Amoore, Will Attenborough, Sophie McIntosh, Colm Meaney, Phyllis Logan, James Carrol Jordan, Grace Nettle, Manuel Pacific | Written by Andy Mayson | Directed by Claudio Fäh

The poster for No Way Up says that it’s from the executive producers of the 47 Meters Down series. That’s not a good sign because it means it’s from the money men behind those films, not the writers, directors or any of the creative types. This time around, they’ve decided to offer their finny cash cows an all-you-can-eat buffet and, taking a cue from Airport 77, they’ve crashed an airliner into the Pacific. That leaves the survivors trapped on the ocean floor in a rapidly shrinking air pocket and surrounded by sharks.

As No Way Up starts things are already looking bad for Jed and Kyle. Kyle’s date for their trip to Cabo backed out at the last minute.

Release plans for the survival thriller No Way Up have not yet been announced, but Altitude has gone ahead and shared a trailer for the film, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Directed by Claudio Fäh (Northmen: A Viking Saga) from a screenplay by Andy Mayson, No Way Up is a high concept combination of disaster movie and survival thriller, as characters from very different backgrounds are thrown together when the plane they’re travelling on crashes into the Pacific Ocean. The stricken airliner comes to rest perilously close to the edge of a bottomless ravine with the surviving passengers and crew trapped in an air pocket. With their air supply rapidly running out, a nightmare fight for survival ensues as dangers from all sides hone-in on them.

Mayson also produced the film with Annalise Davis, Will Clarke, and Mike Runagall. Peter Touche and Christelle Conan...

Exclusive: Principal photography has wrapped on the female-driven survival thriller No Way Up, with Colm Meaney (Gangs of London) taking over the role originally to have been played by Kelsey Grammer, who departed the production due to scheduling conflicts. The Irish actor stars alongside BAFTA Award winner Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey), James Carroll Jordan (Kingsman: The Golden Circle), Sophie McIntosh (Brave New World), Will Attenborough (Dunkirk), Jeremias Amoore (Zero Chill), Manuel Pacific (Terminator: Dark Fate) and Grace Nettle (War of the Worlds).

In the film from director Claudio Fäh (Northmen – A Viking Saga), an airliner crashes into the Pacific Ocean and comes to rest perilously close to the edge of a deep ravine, leaving the surviving passengers and crew trapped in an air pocket. With their air supply rapidly running out, a nightmare fight for survival ensues as dangers from all sides hone-in on them. (Check out the first two...

Based on Swiss author Arno Camenisch’s [pictured] novel, the comedy is slated to shoot in 2017.

Arno Camenisch’s Swiss novel The Break (Die Kur) is set to be adapted for the screen by Zurich-based production and distribution outfit Ascot Elite (Northmen - A Viking Saga).

Ralph Dietrich, Karin Dietrich, Stephan Giger and Roger Kaufmann will produce the comedy about a man and a woman who win a trip to a five-star Swiss resort.

Producer Ralph Dietrich said: “We are delighted to have laid - in cooperation with award-winning writer Arno Camenisch, and the publishing house Engeler Verlag - the foundation to a promising partnership with both national and international potential.”

Swiss author Camenisch has been translated into 20 languages. He said: “Even before I started writing the book I saw The Break as a film. Cinema fascinates me, the way I write is suitably cinematic. ‘The Break’ transposed to the big screen works out perfectly.”

The production...

Mad Max: Fury Road.

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Mad Max: Fury Road is leading the field in the 63rd annual Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards.

George Miller's road rage epic earned three nominations, the most in the feature film categories.

The Martian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Revenant also earned three nominations each..

The nominees represent the work of the world.s most talented sound artists and their contributions to the past year.s most outstanding feature film, television, animation and computer entertainment productions.

Mpse president, Frank Morrone said this nominees had produced an outstanding body of work encompassing motion pictures, television, documentaries, gaming and other mediums.

.Our members continue to impress with their ability to develop new techniques and find creative ways to employ sound as a means of enriching storytelling. We congratulate all of this year.s nominees for their achievements,. he said.

The Mpse Golden Reel...

Sneak Peek the action feature "Northmen - A Viking Saga", now available on DVD, Blu-ray & On Demand, from Anchor Bay, directed by Claudio Fäh from a script by Matthias Bauer and Bastian Zach, starring Ryan Kwanten, Tom Hopper, James Norton, Ed Skrein, Charlie Murphy and Johan Hegg:

"...a group of 'Vikings' in the ninth century set sail for Britain, aiming to plunder the rich monasteries in the northern part of the island. But a storm smashes the ship to pieces on the rocks off the coast of Scotland, the only part of Britain without any Viking settlements.

"Soon thereafter, the daughter of the 'Scottish King' falls into their hands and the Vikings see this as an opportunity to demand a large ransom. The King immediately sets his 'wolfpack' — a group of mercenaries well known for their savagery — on the Vikings.

"The 'Northmen' with their hostage now have to force...

Ryan Kwanten is best known for playing the lovable, but dumb (but also really hot) Jason Stackhouse on "True Blood." So if you're feeling like there's a piece of your heart missing since this is our first summer without the vampiric guilty pleasure, you can now see Kwanten in "Northmen - A Viking Saga." To celebrate his new role, Kwanten told us what action movies he can't get enough of.

"Northmen - A Viking Saga" hits theaters and Digital HD today (July 31st). You can get it on VOD and DVD/Bd August 11th.

Join Anchor Bay Entertainment, a leading independent home entertainment company celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015, for exclusive photo opportunities and limited edition giveaways at Comic-Con. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, Anchor Bay Entertainment acquires and releases a wide array of filmed entertainment in the theatrical and home entertainment markets -- including Starz Original series, select programming with The Weinstein Company, AMC Networks and RADiUS, and specialty films -- on Blu-ray™ and DVD formats. Stop by Booth #4536 July 9th - 12th to take pictures with a customized walker from AMC’s The Walking Dead and the skull helmet from Northmen - A Viking Saga. Attendees will also have a chance to enter to win a limited edition The Walking Dead themed guitar...

Today's batch of MPAA ratings bulletin begins with an R-rating for the Amy Winehouse documentary Amy from Asif Kapadia (Senna). This one premiered at Cannes to very good reviews and will be hitting theaters in early July. Another Cannes premiere was Woody Allen's Irrational Man, but the reaction to this one was a bit muted, but that isn't stopping me from looking forward to seeing it. Next is the Sundance hit Dope and then Amy Berg's documentary An Open Secret, a doc investigating accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry. Finally we have The Final Girls, which played the SXSW Film Festival and Mike gave it a mezzo-mezzo review and it seems the PG-13 rating might have been the thing holding it back. Check out the complete ratings bulletin below. Amy Rated R For language and drug material. Release Date: July 3, 2015 Dark Horse Rated PG...

Assessing the merits of Claudio Fäh's Viking odyssey is a tricky task because of what it represents in the panorama of Swiss genre films. With an international cast, and production set in South Africa, Northmen - A Viking Saga is one of the most significant efforts of its kind. Of course, genre films do exist in Switzerland but they are rather underground. The quite impressive quantity of short films dealing with horror, fantasy or science fiction seldom get released outside the country, while feature films remain discreet endeavors, such as Michael Steiner's Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010) and Das Missen Massaker (2012), Bettina Oberli's Tannöd - The Murder Farm (2009), Mathieu Seiler's Der Ausflug (2012), Ivan Engler's Cargo (2009) or Olivier Beguin's Chimères (2013)....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Claudio Fäh’s action feature joins gala line-up.

Period action film Northmen - A Viking Saga is to receive its world premiere at the 10th Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 5) as part of the gala premieres strand.

Director Claudio Fäh and producer Ralph S. Dietrich will present the film alongside the cast including Tom Hopper, Ken Duken, Ed Skrein and Swiss actor Anatole Taubman on Sept 27.

This Swiss film, about a gang of predatory Vikings whose escape to Scotland ends in death and destruction, was shot in South Africa.

Swiss-born, Los Angeles-based Fäh is best known for directing Coronado, Sniper: Reloaded and Hollow Man 2.

Northmen - A Viking Saga is a co-production between Elite Filmproduktion, Two Oceans Production and Jumping Horse Film.

A full trailer has been released for an extremely awesome looking viking film called Northmen: A Viking Saga. I'm incredibly excited about seeing this movie. I love that the first part of this trailer features an old Viking wrestling down a horse and its rider with his bare hands. The trailer only get more badass from there! 

A band of Vikings are stranded behind enemy lines on the coast of Alba as their longboat goes down in a dreadful storm. Their only chance of survival is to find a path to the Viking settlement, Danelag, traversing an unfamiliar and hostile land they have never known. The journey becomes a race for their lives when the King of Alba sends his most feared mercenaries after them. But when the Vikings meet a kind Christian Monk who preaches with his sword, the hunters become the hunted as the Vikings set deadly traps,...

Northmen A Viking Saga Trailer. Claudio Fäh‘s Northmen: A Viking Saga (2014) international movie trailer stars Leo Gregory, Ken Duken, Anatole Taubman, Nic Rasenti, and Joe Vaz. Northmen: A Viking Saga‘s plot synopsis: “A gang of Viking marauders under the command of their young leader, Asbjörn, bear down on the [...]

Continue reading: Northmen: A Viking Saga (2014) International Movie Trailer...

A new trailer is out for "Northmen: A Viking Saga," an action adventure film starring some faces that will be familiar to regular cable series watchers. "Black Sails" and "Merlin" hunk Tom Hopper leads a cast as the captain of a Viking crew shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. The Northmen must trek to the safety of a nearby stronghold, but a group of the King's ferocious mercenaries are on their tail.

Also onboard are "True Blood" star Ryan Kwanten as a staff wielding monk, former "Game of Thrones" and new "The Transporter" star Ed Skrein, "Happy Valley" actors James Norton and Charlie Murphy, and famed Swiss actor Anatole Taubman. The film is currently slated for release in Eastern Europe this Fall, no word on a U.S. release just yet.

Tom Hopper, Ryan Kwanten, Ken Duken, Charlie Murphy, James Norton, Ed Skrein, Anatole Taubman and Johan Hegg star in the action adventure pic about a gang of Viking marauders. When they are shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland, the Northmen must trek to the safety of the Viking stronghold Danelag. But hot on their tails are the King’s ferocious mercenaries, called the Wolf Pack. Northmen: A Viking Saga will be released in Germany by Ascot Elite Filmverleih GmbH in partnership with Paramount Pictures Germany on October 23. Check out the trailer that dropped today:...

While Jason Statham searches for an appropriate action vehicle in China, one of his former franchises drives on without him. The Transporter Legacy, starring Ed Skrein (pictured), will motor into North American theaters on March 6, 2015, according to Variety. It will be the first release from EuropaCorp USA, a new distribution entity formed earlier this year. Camille Delamarre, who helmed Brick Mansions, the English-language remake of 2004's Banlieue 13, is directing the new installment in the series. Skrein also has roles in the upcoming action flicks Northmen: A Viking Saga and Tiger House, so we'll see if The Transporter Legacy can give his career a boost in a similar manner to how Statham's career was boosted by his lead performance in The Transporter back...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Not that Jason Statham could ever be replaced, but plans for a rebooted Transporter series recently were unveiled, and it seems the producers already have gone ahead and cast a younger actor in the lead. Ed Skrein, the British actor who plays Daario Naharis on HBO.s smash hit Game of Thrones, landed the key role of the new Transporter in the reboot, Variety reports. The actor.s previous credits include the TV series The Tunnel, as well as the upcoming epic Northmen: A Viking Saga. On the casting, EuropaCorp CEO Christophe Lambert said to the trade: "We searched everywhere to find a fresh face who had the potential to become an action movie star and we.ve found the right match with Ed Skrein, who.s not only a great actor but also has enough charisma and physical stamina to play Frank Martin (the .Transporter.s. leading role) with...

Principal photography has wrapped on Claudio Fah's period tale Northmen: A Viking Saga and Twitch is happy to share the first official still from the film. The international cast includes the likes of Tom Hopper and Ryan Kwanten along with Scandinavian heavy metal star Johan Hegg and an impressive group of up and comers. A gang of Viking marauders under the command of their young leader, Asbjörn, bear down on the coast of Britain, intent on pillaging Lindisfarne of its gold. But, caught in a vicious storm, their longboat is dashed to pieces on the rocks off Scotland. Trapped deep within enemy territory, the shipwrecked mens' only chance of survival is to reach the safety of the Viking stronghold Danelag. With only the enigmatic Conall,...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Ryan Kwanten ("True Blood"), Tom Hopper ("Merlin"), Charlie Murphy and Ed Skrein have joined the cast of Claudio Fah's epic adventure "Northmen: A Viking Saga" which eOne will distribute in various key markets.

Ken Duken, Anatole Taubman and James Norton also star in the story about Viking marauders trapped in enemy territory in Scotland.

Matthias Bauer and Bastian Zach penned the script. An eight week shoot begins next week in South Africa and Germany.

Source: Screen Daily...

Tobias Santelmann, star of the Academy Award-nominated Kon-Tiki and Roar Uthaug's (Cold Prey) apres-Black Plague chase film, Escape, will take the lead in the upcoming Viking action film Northmen - A Viking Saga. Here's the synopsis from the press release: Tobias Santelmann ... will play Viking leader Asbjörn, stranded behind enemy lines on the coast of Alba with his band of Vikings. Their only chance of survival is to find a path to the Viking settlement, Danelag, traversing an unfamiliar and hostile land. The journey becomes a race for their lives when the King of Alba sends his most feared mercenaries after them. But when the Vikings meet a Christian Monk who also preaches with his sword, the hunters become the hunted as the Vikings...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Game Night Aggregrate Films and Davis Entertainment are teaming to produce Mark Perez's ensemble dark comedy pitch "Game Night" at New Line.

Jason Bateman will produce and star in the story of a group of couples who get together regularly to play games. On this night, things get real and it becomes a murder mystery. [Source: Deadline]

Parkland Matt Barr ("Hatfields & McCoys") has joined the cast of JFK assassination ensemble drama "Parkland" which is set at Dallas' Parkland hospital in the hours following the fatal shooting of the President.

Barr will play surgeon Paul Mikkelson, a workmate to Zac Efron’s doctor character. The duo is in the trauma care unit when the wounded President is brought in. [Source: Deadline]

Belly Dancing for Beginners Sheridan Smith ("Quartet," "Hysteria") is to star in writer-director Debbie Isitt's new comedy "Belly Dancing for Beginners". An eight week shoot on location in Turkey begins in June.