Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block received rave reviews coming out of this year’s SXSW Film Festival and went on the hunt for a U.S. distributor. Screen Gems has now sent out a press release announcing they will distribute the film. For those unfamiliar with the flick, it’s about a group of street tough kids who fight off alien invaders.

Hit the jump to check out the press release. Click here for Scott’s positive review from SXSW and click here for all of our Attack the Block coverage. A U.S. release date hasn’t been announced yet, but the film opens in the UK on May 11th.

Here’s the press release:

SCREEN GEMS TO DISTRIBUTE

JOE CORNISH’S ATTACK THE BLOCK

Studio Acquires U.S. Rights to 2011 SXSW Audience Award

Winning Film from Studio Canal

CULVER CITY, CA April 6, 2011 – Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights to ATTACK THE BLOCK written and directed by Joe Cornish. Screen Gems will distribute the highly regarded film which won the Midnight Feature Audience Award at this year’s South By Southwest Film Festival. The announcement was made today by SPWA President Steve Bersch and Screen Gems’ President Clint Culpepper.

The London-set action-adventure ATTACK THE BLOCK stars Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter, and Nick Frost. The Big Talk Pictures production was produced by Nira Park and James Wilson. Matthew Justice, Tessa Ross, Jenny Borgars, Will Clarke, Olivier Courson, and Edgar Wright executive produced.

Culpepper said, “Steve Bersch screened this film for me and I fell completely in love with it. The film is, at once, charming, scary, funny, hip, clever and completely hits its mark. I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship with these incredibly talented filmmakers.”

Bersch stated, “ATTACK THE BLOCK has already proven to captivate the SXSW audience with its unique and suspense filled plot including our executives Scott Shooman and Lia Buman who saw it during the festival and raved about it. Joe has created a piece of work we know the masses will enjoy and we are thrilled to be bringing it to a larger stage through Screen Gems.”

ATTACK THE BLOCK follows a gang of tough inner-city kids who rob Sam (Whittaker) as she is walking home in a scary South London tower block. She flees when the gang is attacked by a small alien creature which falls from the sky. While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of creatures falls. The gang grabs weapons, mount bikes, and set out to defend their turf. But this time, the creatures are much bigger. Savage and bestial, nothing will stand in their way. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her only hope.

SPWA’s Michael Helfand and Scott Shooman negotiated the acquisition of ATTACK OF THE BLOCK on behalf of Sony with StudioCanal’s Harold van Lier. The film was co-developed and financed by StudioCanal, Film4 and the UK Film Council with StudioCanal handling worldwide sales and releasing in the UK through its company Optimum on May 11th.