CANNES, France, May 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire Film Group, Inc. (Pink Sheets:EFGU) (http://www.empirefilmgroup.com) will be heading to Hawaii this fall to produce Soakers, a major theatrical comedy from a screenplay by the late Bob Clark (A Christmas Story, Porkys). The film is budgeted at $10 million and will benefit from State of Hawaii production incentives and in-house post-production savings from Empire. Discussions are underway with several top comic stars, reports Empire, and a commercial box-office cast is expected.
"This is by far the largest film production budget yet for Empire," said Dean Hamilton-Bornstein, Chairman and CEO. "Bob's screenplay has broad audience appeal and the potential for significant box office success, so we didn't want to compromise on either the visual effects or the casting. We think the final results will more than merit this investment."
Empire will oversee both the production of the film as well as its worldwide distribution. A summer 2010 theatrical release is planned for the U.S. marketplace.
"We now have our first tent-pole title," said Eric Parkinson, CEO of Distribution for Empire. "Our strategic plan is to have one major title for theatrical release each calendar quarter, supported by eight to ten mid-level theatrical titles. Having Soakers on our schedule for next summer, supplemented by the significant new acquisitions made at the Cannes Film Festival, will position Empire for rapid growth."
Screenwriter and Director Bob Clark is perhaps best known for his perennial holiday favorite, A Christmas Story, which has become a seasonal mainstay for television broadcasters and video retailers worldwide. Clark also wrote and directed many other family-appeal films, including Baby Geniuses and Rhinestone. He had worked with Empire in an advisory capacity on the film Blonde and Blonder before a tragic automobile accident in April 2007 that resulted in his death, as well as the death of his 22-year-old son, Ariel.
Empire describes Soakers as a mainstream family comedy, combining elements of Spy Kids and Jimmy Neutron.
Script Synopsis:
Kevin and Kylie are twins who, after the death of their father, are forced to uproot their Chicago home and move with their mother to the island of Hawaii. There, the three of them stay with grandpa Digger, a military vet who is a bit past his prime and still treats the world as a military operation.
At their new school, the kids face adjustment issues: trying to fall in with the right crowd, dealing with bullies, and getting on the good side of their teachers. But Kevin and Kylie soon become aware that their Pine Hills school might not be so normal.
One night after a particularly harsh detention, the twins plot to toilet paper their principal's house. Before they are able to complete the operation, they witness the disturbing transformation of their school principal, Mr. Vexzler, into an oozing green alien. They soon find themselves thrust into a complicated web of deceit where school teachers and policemen are not who they seem. It is revealed that an Alien General, in disguise as their teacher, Proctor, has been sent from the planet Wynaar with a mandate to annihilate the human race and re-inhabit the earth as Wynnar 231-B, Operation-Earth-Be-Gone.
The kids are desperate as they find it impossible to convince the adults, including their mother Helen, of their story. But when they confide in Digger's geeky friend Buster about the existence of aliens in Pine Hills, he reveals his secret lab in the back of Soylent Green Arcade. He explains that he has been tracking the existence of aliens around the USA for many years, and that what they saw has confirmed his greatest fear. They immediately begin to plot a counter attack against the invading aliens.
Using Buster's high-tech geek laboratory, the kids, Digger, and Buster collaborate with Skate and the Eeks, an elite group of part-badasses, part geeks, who are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Together, the Supreme Organization of Alien Kicking Extreme Rockin Squad (S.O.A.K.E.R.S) attempt to formulate a counter-attack to the aliens' world domination plot. Their first confrontation with the alien invaders occurs at Cosmic Kid Toy Planet, where the aliens have begun to build their army of helpless adult minions controlled by hypno-optic alien powers. The kids, however, are not affected by this hypno-optic power, and are able to confront the aliens.
When they witness the spontaneous combustion of an alien after Spas (an Eek) sneezes on him, the kids realize that the only way to annihilate the aliens is by spraying them with their snot. They regroup at Buster's secret geek laboratory to manufacture gallons of their ooey-gooey green ammo. The aliens are defeated when attacked by the army of kids armed with snot-filled Uber-aqua-soakers. Proctor evaporates and is returned to his ship, retreating back to planet Wynnar forever, or until the sequel.
All returns to normal in Hawaii, and we conclude with the kids at a soaker party as they are contacted by CIA Agent Mills for assistance with the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. The S.O.A.K.E.R.S. pump their Uber-aqua soakers and take the assignment.
Empire already owns or controls a library of more than 170 titles for the U.S. market, over half of which are currently in release. Upcoming theatrical releases for Empire include the award-winning family drama, War Eagle, and the epic CGI animated adventure, Thru The Moebius Strip. Top selling current DVD titles for Empire include Hounddog, starring Dakota Fanning, Come Away Home, starring Lea Thompson, Grand Champion, starring Bruce Willis and Emma Roberts, and Teen Yoga, starring Miss Teen USA (2005), Allie LaForce. In addition to the company's theatrical and video market releasing activities, Empire also operates Hannover House, a successful and well-established book publishing label, founded in 1993.
Learn more about Empire Film Group at www.empirefilmgroup.com