A festival favorite film is now headed to theaters.
“Orion,” a sci-fi thriller starring Andrew McCarthy (“Pretty in Pink,” “St. Elmo’s Fire”), Drew Van Acker (“Pretty Little Liars,” “Titans”) and Debby Ryan (“Jessie,” “Insatiable”), has been acquired by Blue Harbor Entertainment and will have a U.S. theatrical run in the fall. Jaco Bouwer (“Gaia”) directed the film from a script by first-time writer Anne Vithayathil.
Per the official synopsis, “‘Orion’ follows a high-stakes psychological chess match between a NASA interrogator (McCarthy) and an amnesiac astronaut (Van Acker). Tasked with reconstructing the fractured memories of a catastrophic mission, the interrogator must determine what — or who —slaughtered the crew before their craft crash-landed back on Earth.”
“Orion” is produced by Sunil Perkash (“Enchanted,” “Salt”), Van Acker, Elle Army and Scott Army.
At its world premiere at the Provo, Utah festival FilmQuest in fall 2025, “Orion” earned 11 top nominations, winning best actor for Van Acker and best visual effects.
“Jaco Bouwer has crafted a genuinely unique sci-fi thriller — one that delivers outstanding performances from Andrew, Drew and Debby alongside spectacular visual effects, while building a world and a narrative that will truly surprise audiences. We are thrilled to partner with Blue Harbor to bring ‘Orion’ to U.S. audiences, starting with our theatrical rollout later this year,” Perkash said in a statement.
“I was drawn to the script of ‘Orion’ because it weaponizes restraint. A chamber-piece thriller dressed in the costume of science fiction, where the real frontier isn’t the cosmos, it’s what’s hiding inside the man across the table. The thriller form gave me a way to take that anxiety, sharpen it to a point and put it on screen,” Bouwer added.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the talented filmmaking team to release ‘Orion’ later this year. The film delivers the kind of ambitious, high-concept storytelling that excites audiences while remaining grounded in compelling human emotion. From its striking world-building to its edge-of-your-seat tension, the film represents exactly the type of bold independent filmmaking we’re passionate about supporting,” the Blue Harbor Entertainment team said in a statement.
WME brokered the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.
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