Pablo Larrain’s ‘Maria,’ Starring Angelina Jolie, Sells Wide 5

On the heels of a Venice world premiere, FilmNation has closed deals across Europe for Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as revered operatic soprano Maria Callas.

The international sales agent inked deals with Studiocanal for the U.K., Germany and Poland, ARP for France, and 01 Distribution for Italy, where Callas became an opera legend. There are also deals with Sun Distribution for LATAM, Spain, Portugal and South Africa, Pathe for Switzerland, The Searchers for the Benelux, among other territories picked up.

Based on true accounts, Maria tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris. The Venice Film Festival world premiered Maria with an eight-minute standing ovation that included Jolie and Pablo Larraín in the audience.

Following its debut on the Lido, the film will stream on Netflix at an undisclosed date in the U.S. market. “I’m excited to partner again with the Netflix team who care so passionately about movies,” Larraín said in a statement regarding the deal. “This film is my most personal work yet. It is a creative imagining and psychological portrait of Maria Callas, who, after dedicating her life to performing for audiences around the world, decides finally to find her own voice, her own identity and sing for herself.”

Directed by Larraín and written by Steven Knight, Maria also stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino and Valeria Golino.

The producer credits are shared by Juan de Dios, Larraín, Jonas Dornbach and Lorenzo Mieli. Fremantle Group financed the film, with The Apartment, Fabula, Komplizen and Fremantle producing.