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TORONTO — Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Tapped, the Canadian MMA thriller from writer-director Allan Ungar and indie producers Hackybox Pictures and Oriahsphere Entertainment, ahead of the AFM market.
The indie feature about a disgruntled teenager who enters a mixed martial arts tournament to face the man who killed his parents stars Michael Biehn (Terminator), Krzysztof Soszynski and Cody Hackman.
Biehn plays a karate instructor who mentors the teenager.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment, which has a distribution deal with Grindstone, will release the film across all media platforms in 2014 as part of an ongoing pact with Grindstone.
“Allan Ungar and company have put together a modern-day Karate Kid and placed it in the competitive world of mixed martial arts,” said Stan Wertlieb of Grindstone in a statement Monday.
“Tapped is an action film with a touching story and lots of heart. This is an audience pleaser all the way around,” he added.
XYZ Films first started shopping the North American rights to the picture at the Toronto Film Festival.
Screen Media is handling sales for the rest of the world.
The ensemble cast for Tapped includes Martin Kove (The Karate Kid) and UFC stars Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.
The U.S. deal was negotiated by Grindstone Entertainment’s Wertlieb and the filmmakers.
Hackybox Pictures is also working on the upcoming action film Gridlocked, about a former SWAT leader and arrogant movie star organizing the surviving members of a training facility against a team of mercenaries, with Ungar directing.
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