Amazon Studios has acquired global rights to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s terrorist drama 7500. The deal, announced Monday at the Cannes Film Festival, excludes Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Universum will distribute the film in Germany.
In 7500, Gordon-Levitt plays the co-pilot of a plane that has been hijacked by terrorists. The title references the code 7500, which a pilot uses in the event of a hijacking. The code is designed to silently alert air traffic controllers of the situation without tipping off the hijacker. German director Patrick Vollrath wrote the screenplay with Senad Halilbasic.
Gordon-Levitt came on board and Vollrath began shooting starting in the fall of 2017 in Cologne and Vienna. 7500 is Vollrath’s full-length feature debut following his 2015 Academy Award-nominated short, Everything Will Be Okay. Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo of Augenschein Filmproduktion are producing, while Novotny’s Franz Novotny and Alexander Glehr are co-producers. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lindsay Williams of the Gotham Group are serving as executive producers.
The 7500 deal is Amazon’s second acquisition at the festival. It bought the U.S. rights to the competition drama “Les Miserables” last week. That film, from writer-director Ladj Ly, is loosely based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name.
Glen Basner’s FilmNation negotiated the deal on behalf alongside Endeavor Content.
