Epic Pictures has sold The Marshal, Andrew Baird’s conspiracy thriller starring Guy Pearce, to buyers in 13 territories, Screen International reported on Tuesday 10 November as the American Film Market opened in Los Angeles. The deals take in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, South Korea and the Middle East.
No prices were disclosed, and no North American distributor has been named. Epic holds the film’s international sales rights, which it took on in April before launching the film to buyers at the Cannes market in May.
Key facts
- Deals: 13 territories or territory groups, sold by Epic Pictures (international sales rights since April) and reported by Screen International; nine are in Europe
- Main buyers: Vertigo Releasing (UK and Ireland), DCM (Germany), Notorious (Italy), A Contracorriente (Spain), Eagle Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand)
- Not yet announced: the US and Canada, France and Japan
- Shoot: 30 March to 24 April 2026 in and around St John’s, Newfoundland, according to the province’s crew union; now in post-production
- Pearce and Baird: their third film together, after Zone 414 (2021) and Sunrise (2024)
Who bought it
In the larger European markets the film has gone to established independent distributors: Vertigo Releasing in the UK and Ireland, DCM in Germany, Notorious in Italy and A Contracorriente in Spain. Eagle Entertainment takes Australia and New Zealand, and BF Distribution has Latin America.
The rest of the list, as reported, is Benelux (Premiere TV), South Korea (PoongKyung SoRi), the Middle East (Falcon Films), Poland (Dimeo Films), Romania (Karpat Media), Hungary (ADS Service) and the Czech Republic (Foxx Media). The Romanian sale comes in the year AFM has made Romania its first Country of Focus.
By FilmBunch’s count, nine of the 13 deals are in Europe, covering most of the continent’s bigger theatrical markets. France is the conspicuous exception.
The film
Pearce plays Clay Mercer, an Iraq War veteran and elite marksman with the US Marshals whose career is destroyed by a single shot at a presidential rally. In the producers’ synopsis, he is drawn years later into a covert network of operatives and must choose between becoming the weapon he was shaped to be and dismantling the system from within. The logline Screen published is blunter: the operation he joins turns out to involve a plot to kill the president, and he goes rogue. Bruce Greenwood, Kaniehtiio Horn, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Navid Negahban, Jaylen Moore, Joel Thomas Hynes, Gina La Piana and Anthony Del Negro complete the cast.
Jay Howard Thames wrote the screenplay and produces through 77 Films, alongside Kevin Matusow for Traveling Picture Show Company and Rob and Peter Blackie for Elemental Pictures. Epic’s chief executive, Patrick Ewald, and Katie Page are among the executive producers, as are Alan B. Bursteen and Dawn Bursteen of Milestone Studios. Bursteen, Milestone’s president, negotiated the sales agreement with Ewald, Variety reported in April, when Epic released a first-look image and put the film at the head of its Cannes slate. “The Marshal represents exactly the kind of bold, high-concept storytelling that resonates with global audiences,” Ewald said at the time.
Shot in Newfoundland
The sales announcements do not say where the film was made. IATSE Local 709, the crew union for Newfoundland and Labrador, lists The Marshal as a feature in post-production, made by Elemental Marshal NL Productions Inc., with preparation from 2 to 27 March 2026 and principal photography from 30 March to 24 April “in and around St. John’s, NL”. Tony Butt, of Elemental, was production manager.
A thriller about American federal agents and a threat to a US president was, in other words, shot on Canada’s Atlantic coast. Neither the union nor the producers have given a budget or named any public funding, and no release date or festival premiere has been announced in any territory.
Our reading
Thirteen deals announced on AFM’s opening day, for a film still in post-production, show the package independent buyers keep paying for: a recognisable star, a director he has already made two films with and a premise that sells from a single image. It joins other early market business FilmBunch has tracked, including I Is Another’s eight territories and Brainstorm Media’s US deal for Imposters.
What has not been announced is as telling as what has. There is no deal yet for the US, the largest single market, or for France and Japan. Whether a North American buyer follows before the market closes on Sunday 15 November is the next test of how far the film can travel.
Sources
- Screen International, The Marshal territory sales (exclusive), 10 November 2026
- Variety, Epic Pictures takes international sales on The Marshal for Cannes (exclusive), 28 April 2026
- IATSE Local 709 (Newfoundland and Labrador), current productions list: The Marshal
- Traveling Picture Show Company, The Marshal project page
- IFTN, Andrew Baird brings The Marshal to Cannes, 11 May 2026