Berlin

Christoph Waltz and Guy Pearce Enter The Portable Door,

A New Feature Film from

The Jim Henson Company and Story Bridge Films

Arclight Films handling worldwide sales

The Jim Henson Company and Story Bridge Films have announced the production of The Portable Door, a new fantasy-adventure-comedy feature adapted from Tom Holt’s popular 6-book fantasy series, starring Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained, Spectre), with Guy Pearce (The King’s Speech, L.A. Confidential), and Patrick Gibson (The OA, Tolkien). Prolific and award-winning director Jeffrey Walker (Ali’s Wedding, Lambs of God) will direct the screenplay adapted by Leon Ford (Griff the Invisible). The Portable Door will be produced by Lisa Henson and Blanca Lista from The Jim Henson Company (Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day; The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), and Todd Fellman from Story Bridge Films (Daybreakers, Bait). Elevate Production Finance’s Craig McMahon is financing the film.

Arclight Films will represent the project at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin for all territories outside of Australia and New Zealand.

In The Portable Door, Paul Carpenter, a new intern at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., becomes steadily aware that his employers are anything but conventional.  Charismatic villain Humphrey Wells (Waltz), the CEO of the company, is disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices. Dennis Tanner (Pearce) is the shape-shifting goblin trapped in the organization’s middle management. Paul Carpenter (Gibson) is the lowly, put-upon intern who discovers the true agenda of the vast corporation where they work.

“We were especially drawn to the crowd-pleasing franchise potential of The Portable Door, with its relatable, gritty humor made popular in shows like The Office, and its rich, Harry Potter-like, high-fantasy setting,” said Lisa Henson, producer and CEO of The Jim Henson Company. “Once we were able to entice accomplished and versatile director Jeffrey Walker to join the project, we knew we had someone perfectly suited to pull together this unique tone and ground the film for its audience.”

“Leon Ford has written a brilliant script that delivers a perfect balance of comedy, wit, fantasy, adventure and heart within a grand, visually stunning and timeless world,” said Todd Fellman, Story Bridge Films. “It's exciting to be working with such an incredible team and to bring this story to life in way that will sit proudly alongside other classics in the Henson tradition."

“We are delighted to be handling sales on The Portable Door. When we read the script, we immediately recognized the great potential of the story and the uniqueness of a project that combines in such a smart way both comedy and fantasy, all supported by a first-rate cast which includes Christoph Waltz and Guy Pearce,” said Arclight Films’ Chairman, Gary Hamilton. 

# # #

ABOUT THE JIM HENSON COMPANY

The award-winning Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics, and digital animation. Best known as creators of the world-famous Muppets, Henson’s most recent television credits include the critically acclaimed Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Dot., Word Party, and Doozers, and the Emmy®-nominated Splash and Bubbles, Sid the Science Kid, and Dinosaur Train. Television credits include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller, and the sci-fi series Farscape. Feature credits include The Star (Sony Pictures Animation), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Disney), as well as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and MirrorMask. The Company is currently in production on the upcoming Disney+ series Earth to Ned and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix.

ABOUT STORY BRIDGE FILMS

Story Bridge Films is one of Australia’s most prolific independent film production companies specializing in feature films for the global market with a particular emphasis on international co-productions. Recent credits include DAYBREAKERS, BAIT 3D, IMAX UNDER THE SEA 3D, A FEW BEST MEN, MENTAL, JUNGLE, GUARDIANS OF THE TOMB, HOTEL MUMBAI and ESCAPE FROM PRETORIA with Official Aus-China co-productions AT LAST and LEGEND OF SUN AND MOON slated for a major releases in China later this year.

ABOUT ARCLIGHT FILMS

Arclight Films is one of the world's leading international sales companies for theatrical, television and home entertainment.  Arclight Films has sold over 300 motion pictures including the Best Picture Oscar® winner Crash, Golden Globe® Best Picture Nominee Bobby and Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke and the recent Oscar® nominated feature First Reformed (for Best Original Screenplay).

Arclight Films’ slate includes the Australian the action thriller Long Gone Heroes starring Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, and Maggie Q, Twist currently in production and starring Michael Caine and Here are the Young Men starring Travis Fimmel, Dean Charles Chapman, Finn Cole and Anya Taylor-Joy, the true-life prison break story, Escape From Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber, the sci-fi thriller Possessor starring Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh, directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the 2019 Berlin Film Festival official selection Öndög from Berlin Golden Bear winning director Wang Quan'an, and the big budget Chinese co-production Killer 10.

The company’s recent films include the highly anticipated Hotel Mumbai starring Armie Hammer, Dev Patel, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, and Jason Isaacs, directed by Anthony Maras released in the US by Bleecker Street on March 22nd, the powerhouse actioner Triple Threat starring Chinese stars Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and Tiger Chen, and the Vietnamese action thriller Furie both films released by Well Go USA in March 2019, and the successful biopic Jungle starring Daniel Radcliffe released by eOne.

Arclight's past films include 2016 Official Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection Dog Eat Dog starring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, The Confirmation starring Clive Owen and Maria Bello, directed by Academy Award-winner Bob Nelson (Nebraska), 2016 Sundance Official Selection Frank & Lola starring Imogen Poots and Michael Shannon, Predestination starring Ethan Hawke released through Sony Pictures, Last Knights starring Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, Paper Planes starring Sam Worthington, and Shangri-La Suite starring Emily Browning and Luke Grimes.

Arclight Films additionally encompasses subsidiary labels Darclight Films, the edgy genre-driven division of the company whose films include the worldwide horror hits Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek 2 and action thriller Bait 3D (the highest grossing Australian film in the history of Chinese cinema), and Easternlight, a specialty arm showcasing Asian cinema with the largest film library of any non-Asian-based indie film label. Films sold under the Easternlight banner include the worldwide blockbuster Forbidden Kingdom starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, 14 Blades starring Donnie Yen, and legendary auteur Chen Kaige's Sacrifice.

The latest additions to Easternlight includes Guardians Of The Tomb starring Kellen Lutz and Bingbing Li, Snow Girl And The Dark Crystal starring Bingbing Li, Wolf Warrior starring Wu Jing (which opened #1 at the Chinese Box Office, earning more than $32.5M in one weekend) Outcast starring Nicolas Cage, Special Id Starring Donnie Yen, and Badges Of Fury.

Arclight Films maintains a presence at all major motion picture and television festivals and markets with offices in Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto.