©Courtesy of Lionsgate

Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures, will be releasing a sequel to Jalmari Helander‘s grittier World War II action flick, “Sisu“, with the Finnish filmmaker returning to write and direct it.

What is the reason for Lionsgate, who got the U.S. rights to the film at 2022’s TIFF Midnight Madness, not handling the sequel?

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions’ Stage 6 Films sold the initial movie in the United States and retained the rest of the world (except Finland) for the second movie, which earned $14 million worldwide, with $7.2 million being made in the United States.

The original version of the film depicts an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the Lapland wilderness and attempts to transport the loot to the city, where he confronts a brutal SS officer and German soldiers.

Jorma Tommila is back in the lead role, playing alongside Richard Brake and Stephen Lang. The film was produced by Petri Jokiranta at Subzero Film, Entertainment, with the help of Good Chaos and Mike Goodridge. Gregory Ouanhon and Antonio Salas have worked as executive producers. The Finnish Film Foundation, Film Estonia, Business Finland’s Audio Visual Production Incentive, Film Tampere, Viru Film Fund, and BNP Paribas’ COFILOISIRS are all supporting the film through their respective funding.

In 2012, SubzeroFilm, a entertainment firm, was formed by Jokiranta and Helander after their previous movie “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” was successful. Jokiranta and Helander work together under the Subzero banner to create high-concept genre projects, with Helander in charge and Subzero in charge of production. 2015’s Big Game in Helander was directed by Samuel L. Jackson and Jim Broadbent. The Subzero banner produced its first title.