Booya! Sony Pictures has picked up the rights to distribute the Woody Harrelson superhero comedy Defendor. Apparently there was a large bidding war among various distributors to acquire the rights after the movie had its world premiere Monday night at TIFF, with The Weinstein Co. being one of the main contenders. Sony has bought the rights for all of the U.S. and for most of Europe, Asia and Latin America. The only distributor that had a deal before Monday were Alliance Films which bought the rights for distribution in Canada as a part of the movie’s method for financing the production. It seems like they struck a good deal there, as the movie’s foreign sales agent told Variety that they took a gamble by not pre-selling the rights and that it paid off with the film more or less selling out within five hours.

That gamble is something that has surely made their profits on the sales rise immensely, something I can only applaud as this paves the way for more independently funded films. There was another gamble taken with this movie on Harrelson’s part, as both Defendor and Zombieland on paper had somewhat wacky concepts that could go either way. With both getting positive reviews, he is being rewarded for the chances taken and if both films do just mildly well I imagine that this will put Harrelson back in among the A-listers. Still, I hope that won’t interfere with his choices in roles (like just going for the quick cash grabs) as I hope to see him do more experimental indie flicks like Defendor. Will you be seeing Defendor when it hits theaters, or does the concept seem dull to you?

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