Bella Thorne’s Thriller ‘Ride’ Bought by RLJE Films, Urban Movie Channel

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – RLJE Films and Urban Movie Channel have acquired all North American rights to the upcoming Unified Pictures thriller “Ride.”

The film stars Bella Thorne (“Famous in Love”), Jessie T. Usher and Will Brill (“The OA”). “Ride” marks the feature film debut of writer-director Jeremy Ungar. RLJE plans to release the film nationally in theaters, VOD and Digital HD this fall.

“With its talented young cast and thrilling plotline, we know audiences are going to be drawn to Ride,” said chief acquisitions officer Mark Ward for RLJE Films. “The story is incredibly relevant to today’s culture.”

In “Ride,” Usher portrays a rideshare driver and Thorne plays his passenger. When they pick up a charismatic but manipulative passenger (Brill), a night out in L.A. becomes a psychological war for survival.

“In ‘Ride,’ Jeremy created a quintessential millennial thriller wrought with tension and fueled by our darkest fears related to the cultural phenomenon of ride-sharing,” said producer Keith Kjarval. “We could not be any more pleased to join forces with RLJE, who continue to have their fingers on the pulse of genre fans everywhere.”

“Ride” was produced by Unified’s Kjarval, Tyler Jackson and Sefton Fincham and was financed by the Fyzz Facility along with Unified Film Fund II. Robert Jones and Wayne Marc Godfrey executive produced, along with David Grace, Mike Rowe, Levi Sheck and Dean Buchanan. Ward and Jess De Leo from RLJE negotiated the deal with Endeavor Content on behalf of the filmmakers.