Highland Film Group has announced at TIFF a raft of territory sales on Joe Carnahan’s real-life survival thriller Not Without Hope starring Zachary Levi from Shazam! and Josh Duhamel.

Levi plays Nick Schuyler, who goes on a fishing trip with friends Will Bleakley and NFL American Football players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith only to become stranded when their boat capsizes in a storm 70 miles off the coast of Florida, triggering a US Coast Guard rescue operation.

Deals have locked in Germany (SquareOne), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto Distribution), Latin America (California Filmes), Italy (Blue Swan), Middle East (Eagle Films), Spain (DeAPlaneta), and South Korea (Korea Screen).

Further sales have closed in Taiwan (MovieCloud), Benelux (The Searchers), Portugal (NOS Lusomundo), Poland (Monolith Films), Turkey (Aqua/Pinema Group), Philippines (Pioneer Films), India (PictureWorks), Greece (Spentzos Film), South Africa (Filmfinity), and the former Yugoslavia (Blitz Film & Video Distribution).

Production wrapped in June in Malta. Action ace Carnahan, whose directing credits include The A-Team, The Grey, and Boss Level, adapted the screenplay to Not Without Hope based on the book by Schuyler and The New York Times reporter Jere Longman.

The cast includes JoBeth Williams (The Big Chill), Quentin Plair (Hulu’s Welcome To Chippendales), Terrence Terrell (Netflix’s Obliterated) Marshall Cook (NBC’s Parenthood), and Floriana Lima (Disney+ show The Punisher). GALA Media Capital is the co-financier.

Producers are Carnahan, Michael Jefferson, Adam Beasley and Cindy Bru of Volition Media (Land Of Bad), Kia Jam of K. Jam Media (The Misfits), Dean Altit of Altit Media Group (The Good Neighbor), Rick French of Prix Productions (upcoming Buddy Holly biopic Clear Lake), David Lipper and Robert A. Daly Jr of Latigo Films (Joe Baby), and Highland Film Group.

Highland Film Group is continuing talks with buyers at TIFF and CAA Media Finance represents US rights.

The Highland sales roster includes survival thriller The Ridge starring Billy Magnussen; high-concept horror Rosario with Emeraude Toubia; Simon West’s action comedy Old Guy starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, and Cooper Hoffman; and sci-fi thriller The Astronaut starring Emma Roberts and Laurence Fishburne.

By Jeremy Kay, ScreenDaily