Magnet Releasing picks up North American rights to Takashi Miike's "13 Assassins"

by Chris MaGee

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see Takashi Miike's remake of "13 Assassins" when it screened recently at the 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival. other films took precedence, scheduling didn't work out and ultimately the budget wouldn't allow for even more tickets. I was very happy that out Matthew Hardstaff saw the film and loved it, but my girlfriend reassured me that with Miike's popularity and the amazing buzz "13 Assassins" has been garnering that it wouldn't be long before it got picked up by a distributor. And you know what? She was right.

This week IndieWire announced that Magnolia Pictures's genre wing Magnet Releasing had picked up the North American theatrical rights for Miike's all-star retelling of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 classic about a group of smaurai who take revenge on a ruthless lord. Magnet Senior Vice President Tom Quinn is quoted in the IndieWire article as saying, “Miike returns with a vengeance in this mother-of-all Samurai films. We could not be more honored to welcome one of the world’s greatest genre masters and this instant classic into the Magnet family.” Look to see "13 Assassins" on the big screen in early 2011.