Cannes: Miramax Films Takes Guy Ritchie's 'Toff Guys'

The indie effort sees the 'Sherlock Holmes' director return to his Brit gangster roots.

Miramax Films has landed one of the biggest deals at Cannes so far, picking up worldwide rights on Guy Ritchie's new Brit gangster drama, Toff Guys, in a deal believed to be valued at more than $30 million.

Miramax CEO Bill Block unveiled the deal in Cannes on Wednesday. The company is picking up the film from Thorsten Schumacher of British-based sales group Rocket Science. Block and Miramax consultant Crystal Bourbeau initiated the sale together with Schumacher. CAA Media Finance negotiated the terms of the agreement.

Following mainly studio work with the Sherlock Holmes franchise and King Arthur, Toff Guys, with its story of an upper-class English drug lord looking to sell off his empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires, is described as a return to the roots for Ritchie, who first made his name with British gangster dramas Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

Toff Guys also marks the first major deal for Miramax since it secured a five-year, multi-bank revolving credit facility of $300 million last week, cash that will help the studio ramp up both its acquisition and production slate. Led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MUFG Union Bank, the funding is earmarked for the financing of four to six films a year at Miramax and deficit finance for two to three television series.

Rocket Science, which is handling worldwide sales on Toff Guys, will now look to make key international territory deals for the film. It is not yet clear if CAA Media Finance will look to do a domestic deal on behalf of Miramax.

A version of this story appears in The Hollywood Reporter's May 10 daily issue from the Cannes Film Festival.