Sundance: Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Nabs ‘Them That Follow’ Foreign Rights (EXCLUSIVE)

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has picked up all international rights to “Them That Follow,” a drama about an obscure American Pentecostal sect that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film stars Oscar nominee Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) and Walton Goggins (“Justified”). The Orchard picked up domestic rights earlier in the festival.

“” centers on a group of snake handlers in the hills of Appalachia whose church services include the century-old tradition of worshiping with the reptiles. In the movie, a pastor’s daughter (Alice Englert) carries on a forbidden affair with a childhood friend (Thomas Mann) that threatens to put her in conflict with her father’s church.

This is the third acquisition made by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions at the 2019 . The company previously picked up “Tomorrow Man,” a romantic drama with John Lithgow and Blythe Danner, and “Sound of Silence,” a drama about a New York City therapist with Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones. It previously picked up international rights to the Mindy Kaling comedy “Late Night” and the horror film “The Lodge,” both of which played at Sundance.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions releases a wide variety of films, ranging from big tentpole fare such as “The Tourist” and “Arrival” to indie pictures like “Hearts Beat Loud” and “Searching.”

“Them That Follow” is the feature directing debut of Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage. The pair also wrote the script. The cast includes Kaitlyn Dever, Jim Gaffigan, and Lewis Pullman. Producers are Bradley Gallo, Michael A. Helfant for Amasia, and Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, and Danielle Robinson for G-BASE.

The deal was negotiated by CAA and Amasia.