After being in limbo for a little more than a year, “The Current War” has been picked up by David Glasser’s new company 101 Studios.
The production company, which Glasser launched in January, bought the rights to the orphaned The Weinstein Co. project for $3 million.
Glasser said in January that they were negotiating for the rights to the film.
“The Current War” stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, and follows the story of the cutthroat competition between Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Shannon) over whose electrical system would power the new century. Backed by J.P. Morgan, Edison dazzles the world by lighting Manhattan. But Westinghouse, aided by Nikola Tesla, has seen fatal flaws in Edison’s direct current design. Igniting a war of currents, Westinghouse and Tesla bet everything on risky and dangerous alternating current.
Nicholas Hoult also stars as Nikola Tesla. 101 Studios plans to release the film, which was re-cut prior to the company stepping in for the rights, in a limited number of theaters on October 4 before going wide October 11.
The film was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”) from a script penned by playwright Michael Mitnick (“Sex Lives of Our Parents”).
“The Current War” was the talk of the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago and was initially scheduled for an awards-friendly December 2017 release before getting pushed.
Since TWC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and subsequently sold to Lantern Capital for $298 million, “The Current War” has virtually been floating without a home.
Lantern said after acquiring TWC’s assets last year that it would consider any combination of possibilities for the unreleased finished films, from selling them off to releasing them in partnership.
In October, Lantern said it had partnered with international film distribution and financing company 13 Films to release “The Current War” and the horror flick “Polaroid” overseas.