“Moonfall” co-producer and sales agent AGC Studios is launching the Christopher Smith-directed supernatural thriller “Consecration.”
Stuart Ford’s independent studio will fully finance and co-produce the pic alongside BigScope Films and Moonriver Content. The movie turns on events following the suspicious death of a priest, whose sister goes to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland to find out what really happened to her brother. There, she soon uncovers murder, sacrilege and a disturbing truth about her own shadowy past that brings long-buried trauma to the surface.
Smith (“The Banishing,” “Detour”) will co-write the project alongside Laurie Cook (“The Banishing”). Producers include Xavier Marchand (“The Ritual”) of Moonriver Content and Jason Newmark (“Triangle”) and Cook of Bigscope Films. Ford will be executive producing along with AGC’s Linda McDonough and Miguel Palos and Bigscope’s Ed Fraiman and Adam Nagel.
Shooting will begin later this summer in London and Scotland, and active casting is ongoing.
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“I’m a longtime admirer of Chris as one of the most sophisticated genre filmmakers around and everyone at AGC is excited at the prospect of at last working together along with Xavier, Jason and Laurie,” said Ford.
Smith described the project as “a film about the nature of religion and how defining one thing as divine creates a false opposite that is heretical.”
Smith added: “This film is an opportunity to take the audience on a thrilling journey into the dark unknown, and I want to really push that to the limit both in terms of scares and the psychology of the main characters. I’ve learnt so much about making genre films over the years, and I want ‘Consecration’ to be the scariest yet.”
AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of AGC Studios, is handling worldwide sales. The deal was negotiated by AGC’s senior VP of legal and business affairs Anant Tamirisa on behalf of AGC.
Smith is represented by Independent Talent Group and WME.
AGC Studios has several titles in post-production, including “Queenpins,” from directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, and starring Kristen Bell, as well as Roland Emmerich’s recently wrapped “Moonfall,” headlining Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson for Lionsgate. The indie recently produced and financed “Demonic” from “District 9” filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, which will be released by IFC Midnight, as well as “Locked Down” from Doug Liman, starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor.