The comedy A.C.O.D., which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive reviews, has been picked up for distribution by The Film Arcade and Paramount Home Media. The title stands for “Adult Children of Divorce” and the Stuart Zicherman-directed film centers on a guy (Adam Scott) who has been caught in his parents’ (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara) ugly divorce for the past twenty years, and matters become even worse when his brother gets engaged. Then the details of the feud are revealed in a definitive new book on children of divorce.
I caught the film at Sundance (read Matt’s review here) and it’s a solid comedy with a big heart, and as a fellow A.C.O.D. it hit really close to home for me in quite a few parts. It also features scene-stealing performances by Catherine O’Hara and Richard Jenkins, with other nice turns from Clark Duke, Amy Poehler, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The Film Arcade will be handling theatrical distribution in North America, while Paramount Home Media will manage domestic home entertainment, television licensing and digital distribution, as well as international distribution. Hit the jump for the press release.
Here’s the full press release:
THE FILM ARCADE AND PARAMOUNT HOME MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
ACQUIRE WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO SUNDANCE SENSATION A.C.O.D.
Hilarious comedy stars Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins,
Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch, Jessica Alba and Amy Poehler
April 16, 2013 – The Film Arcade and Paramount Home Media Distribution announced today the acquisition of the breakout Sundance comedy A.C.O.D. The Film Arcade will release the film theatrically throughout North America and Paramount Home Media Distribution will manage domestic home entertainment, televisionlicensing and digital distribution, as well as all international distribution.
A.C.O.D., which comedically explores the world of Adult Children of Divorce, marks the directorial debut of Stuart Zicherman (creator of J.J. Abrams/ABC’s “Six Degrees”), who co-wrote the script with Ben Karlin, a producer and writer on “Modern Family” and previously on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. The film features an all-star cast of comedic talent including Adam Scott (“Parks and Recreation”, Friends with Kids), Richard Jenkins (Step Brothers), Catherine O’Hara (For Your Consideration), Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”), Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four), Jane Lynch (“Glee”), Clark Duke (“The Office”) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs the World). Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures (Broken City, upcoming At Any Price) fully financed A.C.O.D. and Schwarzman produced the film alongside Karlin and Tim Perell.
A.C.O.D. follows Carter (Scott), a seemingly well-adjusted Adult Child of Divorce. Having survived the madness of his parents’ (Jenkins and O’Hara) divorce, Carter now has a successful career and supportive girlfriend (Winstead). But when his younger brother (Duke) gets engaged, Carter is forced to reunite his bitterly divorced parents for the wedding, causing the chaos of his childhood to return.
“A.C.O.D. is one of the funniest Sundance films we’ve seen and the audience at its premiere laughed the whole way through”, said The Film Arcade partners. “Stu and his incredible cast have shown us that divorce hurts until you laugh. We look forward to bringing this entertaining film to audiences and adding ‘A.C.O.D.’ to the pop-culture lexicon.”
“We are thrilled that The Film Arcade and Paramount are distributing A.C.O.D.” said Schwarzman. “We look forward to working closely with both companies, and are so excited for audiences worldwide to see thismemorable comedy.”
Mark Ankner from WME Global represented on behalf of the filmmakers.