Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has bought rights in most markets for the upcoming romantic drama “Ammonite,” starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan.
Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights for the U.K. Cross City will be launching sales on the remaining territories at the European Film Market in Berlin this week, with CAA Finance co-repping domestic rights. The movie will begin principal photography in March.
The story is set in 1840s England, when Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever. Anning is credited with making key scientific discoveries in the Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel.
Francis Lee is set to direct. “Ammonite” is a See-Saw Films production by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman (whose credits include “Widows,” “Lion,” and “The King’s Speech”), alongside Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (“Lady Macbeth”). See-Saw developed the drama with the British Film Institute and BBC Films.
Winslet has been nominated for seven Academy Awards and won for Stephen Daldry’s 2008 drama “The Reader.” Ronan has been nominated for three Oscars, most recently for “Lady Bird,” and is playing the title role in “Mary Queen of Scots.”
The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.