May 5, 2016 - 12:07 AMT
Anthony Hopkins rural thriller “Blackway” release date set

The Anthony Hopkins-starring rural thriller Blackway has been acquired by Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment and will be the first theatrical release from the company’s new domestic distribution outfit. Its day-and-date bow in the U.S. is set for June 10 on screens in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Portland and Seattle, coupled with a 40-screen release in Canada via TM Media Events. Electric Entertainment is also repping the Daniel Alfredson-helmed pic at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival market, with the first buyer screening set for May 12, Deadline reports.

Based on the 2008 novel Go With Me by Castle Freeman, Jr., Blackway is a bleak look at blue-collar life in small-town America reminiscent of pics like Winter’s Bone. The film follows Lillian (Julia Stiles), a woman who has recently moved back to the logging town she came from after a stint living in Seattle. Seeking help from the local sheriff after receiving severe harassment at the hands of Blackway (Ray Liotta), a former cop-turned-all-powerful local crime boss who runs the town with impunity, she’s advised to leave.

Instead, she teams with the only two people left willing to stand up to Blackway: an ex-logger (Hopkins) and his laconic young friend (Alexander Ludwig). In an exclusive clip (watch it above), Lillian first reaches out for help only to discover mundane proof of the old adage that evil triumphs because good people do nothing.

From a script by Joe Gangemi (Red Oaks) and Gregory Jacobs (Magic Mike XXL, Edge Of Tomorrow), Blackway had its world premiere last fall at the Venice Film Festival. Electric Entertainment co-financed it with Enderby Entertainment. The film was produced by Enderby’s Rick Dugdale, The Gotham Group’s Lindsay Williams and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jacobs, and Hopkins.

Among Electric Entertainment’s upcoming projects, the third season of TNT’s The Librarians is in production, and Devlin’s feature directorial debut Geostorm is in post-production at Warner Bros. Electric is also selling international rights to the Brad Silberling-directed thriller An Ordinary Man, starring Ben Kingsley and currently in post-production; the PBS drama Mercy Street; and the 2015 Tribeca film The Wannabe.