The producers of the Dev Patel-starrer Hotel Mumbai have reclaimed distribution rights to their film from The Weinstein Company for an undisclosed sum, reports said. Directed by Antony Maras, the film centres on the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, which left more than 160 people dead and over 300 injured.
In 2016, The Weinstein Company had signed a distribution deal with the film’s producer, Hotel Mumbai PTY LTD, for the North America and United Kingdom markets, agreeing to spend $10 million on promotions and advertising. However, the production house filed for bankruptcy in March after its founder Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexually harassing and raping female assistants and actors.
In April, the producers of Hotel Mumbai filed a petition demanding that their film be excluded from The Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy sale. In their petition, Hotel Mumbai’s producers had questioned if the studio’s buyer Lantern Capital had the “financial and industry-specific wherewithal” to distribute the film. Under the settlement, Hotel Mumbai PTY LTD will now hold the rights to distribution of the film in North America and the United Kingdom, and Lantern Capital will not have to spend $10 million to promote Hotel Mumbai.
Several other unreleased films are still tied to the bankruptcy sale, including Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer The Current War and the Bryan Cranston-Kevin Hart comedy The Upside.
Hotel Mumbai is scheduled to be released in September or October to mark the 10-year anniversary of the attacks. The cast includes Armie Hammer, Anupam Kher, Nazanin Boniadi and Jason Isaacs.
