Universal Pictures Acquires VIKINGR; Baltasar Kormakur Directing

Filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur’s next adventure will be VIKINGR for Universal Pictures. Kormakur wrote the story and the script, along with Olafur Egill Egilsson.

Producers on the project include Kormakur under his RVK Studios banner, Marc Platt Productions’ Marc Platt and Adam Siegel, Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and Nathalie Marciano.

The project is based on the classic tales deriving from the legendary Icelandic Sagas, which document larger than life heroes, adventures and battles of early Nordic settlers, as well as daily life in the Viking age.

Universal and Kormakur have a long running relationship going back to his breakthrough picture CONTRABAND, which grossed $91 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. It was based on Kormakur’s Icelandic movie Reykjavik-Rotterdam.

Since then, he has also directed 2 GUNS for the studio as well as the upcoming drama EVEREST. Set to be released on September 18, 2015, EVEREST is inspired by the incredible events surrounding an attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain. EVEREST documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind. Their mettle tested by the harshest elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival. The film stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes and Jake Gyllenhaal. They are joined by Martin Henderson, Emily Watson, Michael Kelly and Thomas M. Wright.