Paramount Snags ‘September 5,’ Shaking Up Oscar Race (Exclusive)

In a move that will thoroughly shake up the Oscar race, September 5, the hottest sales title that played at this year’s fall film festivals and an across-the-board awards contender, has landed at Paramount Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.

The studio has secured the worldwide distribution rights for the film — with the exception of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, where it will be handled by Constantin Film — and will begin platforming it in the U.S. on Nov. 27, the Wednesday of the Thanksgiving long weekend, with plans to expand its theatrical footprint into December and back it with full-fledged awards push.

Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Leonie Benesch star in the third feature from director Tim Fehlbaum (The Colony and Hell), a dramatic thriller about ABC Sports’ coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack in which Palestinian militants took hostage Israeli athletes. The resulting standoff became the first live-televised coverage of an act of terrorism, with all sorts of accompanying moral and ethical dilemmas for the journalists on the ground, including ABC Sports’ legendary chief Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard), the network’s young coordinating producer for Olympics coverage Geoff Mason (Magaro) and a German national who helped them navigate the language and culture (Benesch).

Paramount’s Republic Pictures acquired the global sales rights for September 5 back in July and began shopping its U.S. rights. Interest among distributors reached a crescendo after the film premiered at — and blew the roof off of — the recent Venice and Telluride film festivals, generating comparisons to past best picture Oscar winners Argo and Spotlight. Ultimately, the Paramount Film Group determined that it was a property that should be kept in the family. It now joins the studio’s already-formidable awards slate that also includes Gladiator 2, Better Man and Transformers One.

The Hollywood Reporter, in our review of September 5, described it as “an enlightening, altogether gripping experience” with a “terrific cast” that is “more than just a time capsule about how the news was handled in the pre-digital age; it’s an account that speaks to our time as well.”

The film’s producers include Fehlbaum, Sean Penn, Philipp Trauer, Thomas Wöbke (BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion), John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth (Projected Picture Works).