Saturday, May 17, 2008

Lionsgate Scores The Perfect Game

LIONSGATE, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, announced today that it has acquired worldwide distribution rights, excluding Mexico, from High Road Entertainment to THE PERFECT GAME, the true story of a scrappy Mexican Little League team that became the first non-American team to win the league's World
Series.

The film is directed by William Dear from a screenplay by W. William Winokur, and is produced by David Salzberg, Christian Tureaud, Mark Koch, Daniel de Liege, Winokur and Michael Gallant. The film stars Clifton Collins, Jr. (CAPOTE, "Thief"), Cheech Marin (CARS, BORN IN EAST L.A.) and Academy Award(R) winner Louis Gossett Jr. (DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN). The film's original score is by Academy Award(R) winner Bill Conti (ROCKY, THE RIGHT STUFF). The announcement was made today by Lionsgate's President of Theatrical Films Tom Ortenberg.

"THE PERFECT GAME belongs to the classic tradition of real-life sports films that are fundamentally about persistence and heart," said Ortenberg. "It fits squarely with the Lionsgate mandate to bring uplifting, quality fare to America's diverse families."

"We're thrilled to have Lionsgate as our partner on THE PERFECT GAME," commented producer and HighRoad Entertainment President, David Salzberg. "The Lionsgate marketing and distribution teams have an unsurpassed record of creating awareness and anticipation of movies like ours, so we know we are in the best possible hands."

The deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by Ortenberg, Wendy Jaffe, Executive Vice President Legal & Business Affairs, Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Jason Constantine, Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Co- Productions, and Eda Kowan, Vice President Acquisitions; and for the filmmakers by HighRoad Entertainment's David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud and Bill Grantham, Esq. of Greenberg Traurig.

SYNOPSIS
In 1957, a barefooted, rag-tag team of boys from poverty-stricken Monterrey, Mexico defy extraordinary odds to become the first foreign team to win Little League World Series - doing so in a perfect game, the only one in championship history. Based on a true story, THE PERFECT GAME tells the tale of how their miracle changed not only their lives, but an entire city's destiny.

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