Paramount Home Media Distribution announced today that it has acquired U.S. home entertainment rights to IFC Films' highly-acclaimed film
Boyhood. Written and directed by Richard Linklater,
Boyhood was filmed over the course of 12 years with the same cast, and tells the groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater and Ellar Coltrane as Mason, and has achieved a rare 100 on Metacritic and is the first film to receive an A+ Critical Mass score from Entertainment Weekly. While an exact street date has yet to be revealed, a Blu-ray release is set to follow and is already available for pre-order on Amazon.
Synopsis: With Hawke and Arquette starring as Mason's parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha,
Boydhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay's Yellow to Arcade Fire's Deep Blue.
Boyhood is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It's impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey.
"We are thrilled and delighted to bring Richard Linklater's extraordinary film to home viewing audiences," said Amy Reinhard, president, Worldwide Television & Home Media Acquisitions, Paramount Pictures. "
Boyhood is an exceptional and unique piece of cinematic artistry that explores universal themes that everyone can appreciate. We plan to bring all of Paramount's home media division's resources to bear and leverage our numerous distribution platforms in order to ensure that
Boyhood reaches the broadest possible audience and look forward to giving viewers a chance to go behind-the-scenes with bonus footage chronicling the 12 years of work that went into this outstanding achievement."
Adds the film's producer, John Sloss: "We are thrilled that Paramount Home Media Distribution is bringing the company's extensive home video reach and marketing acumen to Rick's vision."
Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, noted that IFC will release the film on certain VOD platforms simultaneous to Paramount's home video release and said: "It's great news for us to team up with Paramount on
Boyhood. We couldn't ask for better partners."
Paramount Home Media Distribution will handle all physical and Internet digital home entertainment distribution of
Boyhood in the U.S. following the film's theatrical run. The deal comes on the heels of a series of high profile acquisitions by PHMD including CNN Films'
Ivory Tower, the critically-acclaimed film about the American higher education system at a crisis point; actor William H. Macy's feature directorial debut
Rudderless, starring Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez and Laurence Fishburne; and director Joe Swanberg's latest feature,
Happy Christmas, starring Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham and Swanberg.