Producer-director Uwe Boll has teamed with Freestyle Releasing for the distribution of three films, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Headlining the package deal is the $60 million "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale," which stars Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Ron Perlman, Leelee Sobieski, John Rhys-Davies, Matthew Lillard and Burt Reynolds. Freestyle is slated to open the film Jan. 18 on 2,500 screens in North America.
The project is based on developer Gas Powered Games' "Dungeon Siege" franchise, which was released on PC by Microsoft Game Studios.
Freestyle co-president Marke Borde said "King" will be Freesyle's tentpole movie. He said the P&A behind the movie is about $20 million to start. Boll is providing P&A for all three movies through private funding.
"Freestyle is really getting behind this picture," Borde said. "We've hired support staff just to market this picture, and we plan on reaching out to both traditional media as well as video game media to take full advantage of the Microsoft 'Dungeon Siege' video game."
There are plans to promote the movie at Comic-Con and other events, Boll said.
"It's a pretty big picture and it plays great," Borde said. "I don't chase movies based on video games and any pre-awareness that those franchises might have with an audience. I chase movies that are good."
Freestyle also will distribute the comedy "Postal," based on the controversial video game from developer Running With Scissors. The film, which stars Zack Ward, Dave Foley, Chris Coppola and Boll, is slated for a Sept. 28 release in North America.
Boll said the film likely will open on 500 screens and grow from there based on boxoffice.
Boll will screen "Postal" at a number of film festivals, including those in Montreal, Toronto and San Francisco. In addition, he will show some of the film at Comic-Con in July with Ward and Foley on hand.
The third movie in the deal is the Boll-penned horror film "Seed," starring Michael Pare, set to open early next year.
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