NEW YORK (November 18, 2014) – Unison Films in association with Funny or Die and Paladin have announced today that they will release Flight of the Conchords’ creators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award-winner WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS in New York and Los Angeles on February 13, followed by an expansion into major markets, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., on February 20, with a continued national rollout throughout February and early March.
Unison Films will be heading up the theatrical release along with Paladin and Funny or Die will leverage its social media and marketing reach leading up to the film’s release. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, produced by Unison Films and Defender Films, along with producers Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Emanuel Michael, follows the adventures of four vampire roommates trying to get by in a modern world that’s not always hospitable to the undead. The highly acclaimed comedy sensation premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has since gone on to play Berlin, SXSW, TIFF, and AFI, winning every audience award for which it has been eligible.
Clement and Waititi, creators of the HBO hit series "Flight of the Conchords," co-wrote, co-directed, and co-star in this hilarious send-up in which an endearingly unhip quartet of friends ranging in age from 183 to 8,000 years old, squabble over household chores, struggle to keep up with the latest trends in fashion and technology, antagonize the local werewolves, and deal with the rigors of living on a very, very strict diet. The film also stars FOTC’s Rhys Darby, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie Van Beek.
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is Unison’s third film with New Zealand multi-hyphenate and Academy Award® nominee Taika Waititi, following cult hit EAGLE VS. SHARK and New Zealand's all-time highest grossing box office film, BOY. Unison is also currently in pre-production on Waititi’s next film, Blacklisted script, JOJO RABBIT, a co-production with Studio Babelsberg.
About Unison Films
Unison Films is an Academy Award® winning Film Production, Finance, and Distribution Company launched by CEO Emanuel Michael in 2004. In addition to producing and distributing WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, Unison also produced the recent Weinstein Company release THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY starring Academy Award® nominee Jessica Chastain and Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy, Academy Award® winner William Hurt, two-time Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert, Ciarán Hinds, and Bill Hader.
Previous Unison producing credits include Yaron Zilberman’s A LATE QUARTET starring Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Academy Award® winner Christopher Walken and two-time Academy Award® nominee Catherine Keener; GREAT EXPECTATIONS directed by BAFTA winner Mike Newell, starring two-time Academy Award® nominee Ralph Fiennes and two-time Academy Award® nominee Helena Bonham Carter; 360 helmed by Academy Award® nominated director Fernando Meirelles, starring Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins, Academy Award® nominee Jude Law, and Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz; and Academy Award® winning documentary INOCENTE directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine.
About Funny Or Die
Funny Or Die launched in April 2007 and has become an award-wining top destination for comedy on the web. The site has over 19 million unique users per month, over 60 million video views per month, and has grown into a vertically integrated 21st century digital studio that produces high quality content over numerous platforms, operating a social media and marketing division with over 8.2 million Twitter followers approximately 9.5 million Facebook fans (#1 Comedy Brand on both Twitter and Facebook), and devoted followers on numerous social networking and sharing sites. Funny Or Die has become the “place to be seen” for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedy fix. Funny Or Die's founders are Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy), Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Michael Kvamme. Judd Apatow is also a principal partner in Funny Or Die.
About Paladin
Now in it's sixth year, Paladin was founded by President and CEO Mark Urman, who previously co-founded and headed THINKFilm and, before that, served as co-president of Lionsgate Releasing. Paladin partners with filmmakers, rights holders, and ancillary distributors to craft and implement theatrical distribution and marketing plans for a broad range of independent films. Recent titles include Clark Gregg's "Trust Me," Kevin Asch's "Affluenza," Michael Walker's "The Maid's Room," Pieter Gaspersz's "After," Victor Salva's "Dark House," and Robert May's highly acclaimed documentary, "Kids For Cash." Opening on December 5th in New York and Los Angeles is "The Barefoot Artist," a portrait of renowned artist Lily Yeh, directed by Glenn Holsten and Daniel Traub. Paladin previously teamed with Unison Films on the successful release of Taika Waititi's award-winning "Boy."
