Paolo Strippoli’s horror-thriller The Spiral has moved from a festival bet to a global commercial play. Le Pacte has locked a North American distribution deal and a shelf of territory sales for Italy’s Oscar submission, giving the film both an English-language release path and a wider licensing footprint.
The North American deal includes a commitment to a U.S. theatrical run. The distributor’s name is not yet public, and Le Pacte notes the agreement might extend to additional territories.
Where it landed
Vertigo Releasing bought the film for the U.K. and Ireland, MFA+ FilmDistribution for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and La Aventura Cine for Spain. Other European buyers cover Poland, Portugal, Greece, Romania, the Balkans, the Baltics and Bulgaria.
- Asia-Pacific: Pancinema (South Korea), Palace Films (Australia/New Zealand), Bir Film (Turkey), VR Films (India and SAARC).
- Americas: California Filmes (Latin America) and the unnamed North American buyer.
- Europe: Vertigo, MFA+, La Aventura, plus a wider group of regional buyers.
Le Pacte is selling France; Paradiso Filmed Entertainment will release in Benelux. The spread matters because it converts a festival title into a coordinated global release rather than a one-territory experiment.
The numbers behind the screen
Italian distributor 01 Distribution has taken the film to $3.8 million at the local box office, with more than 460,000 admissions since the Oct. 8 opening. For a non-English genre film, that early result gives sellers a tangible data point beyond reviews and festival trophies.
The film, known in Italy as L’Estranea, stars Jasmine Trinca as a mother pulled into a Faustian pact with a mysterious woman played by Bruni Tedeschi; Romana Maggiora Vergano and Adriano Giannini also star. Strippoli directed and co-wrote with Salvatore De Chirico.
Festival proof becomes sales proof
The sales run follows a festival path built for buyer confidence. The Spiral premiered in competition at Venice, was first runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award in Toronto, won Trinca best actress and the Silver Méliès at Sitges, and took Chicago’s Silver Hugo for visual effects, with further stops at Fantastic Fest, Busan and Thessaloniki. THR critic David Rooney called the film juicy entertainment that ought to travel well
.
That arc is the classic festival-to-sales pipeline: awards and midnight audiences lower the perceived risk for territorial buyers, especially when the title also carries an Oscar submission from a major producing country. The Italian-French-Belgian production involved Propaganda Italia, Rai Cinema, Kazak Productions, Tarantula and Dinamo Film.
The takeaway
Distributors are still paying for genre with festival pedigree, early box-office proof and a prestige hook. The India/SAARC pickup via VR Films shows that local players are competing for curated festival horror, not just broad commercial fare.
For marketing and programming teams, the playbook is simple: lead with laurels, cite admissions, and package the Oscar angle as a second window. The next read will be the U.S. distributor’s chosen release date and how wide the North American print goes.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
