Magnolia Pictures picks up Freakonomics
Produced by Chad Troutwine, with Chris Romano and Dan O'Meara of the Green Film Company, Freakonomics is the Closing Night Gala film selection at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Alex Gibney takes a visually arresting look at the crumbling façade of Sumo wrestling and exposes searing and violent truths about this ancient and revered sport. Morgan Spurlock offers up a buoyant and revealing angle on the repercussions of baby names. Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing balance levity and candor with an eye-opening profile of underachieving kids incentivized to learn with cold hard cash. Finally, Eugene Jarecki investigates an unsettling theory to explain why crime rates dramatically dropped in the early '90s. Seth Gordon weaves the pieces together with brisk interludes, providing context and commentary from the authors.
Magnolia anticipates a particularly wide audience for this documentary, as it is difficult to overstate the impact of the source material. Upon its release, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything spent multiple years on the New York Times bestsellers list, and became one of the most blogged about books in the world, inspiring a continuing discussion that has spawned a bestselling sequel (SuperFreakonomics), as well as a regular blog on the Times' website.
"As huge fans of the book, the film version of Freakonomics is something that we've been excited about ever since we caught wind of it," said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. "The fact that this dream project is being realized by the 'dream team' of documentary filmmakers makes this a major film event. We couldn't be more thrilled."
"Dan O'Meara, Chris Romano and I have long admired Magnolia's maverick approach to the business and their pioneering success with new distribution models. Freakonomics has been an audacious project from its inception, and we could not ask for a more intrepid partner to handle the release of our film than Magnolia Pictures," said producer Chad Troutwine of Green Film Company.
Magnolia is planning a fall theatrical release for the film. The deal was negotiated by Magnolia SVP Tom Quinn with Troutwine, Romano and O'Meara.
Freakonomics was released October 1st, 2010 and stars Jade Viggiano, Zoe Sloane, Alyssa Wheeldon, Amancaya Aguilar, Sammuel Soifer, Alisha Nagarsheth, Jalani McNair, Andrew Greiche. The film is directed by Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki, Morgan Spurlock.
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