Vertical Picks Up North American Rights to Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino's Father Joe

Vertical has acquired North American rights to Father Joe, an action-crime film starring Kiefer Sutherland and Al Pacino, and plans a wide theatrical release in 2027. Deadline reported the deal on 5 November 2026.

North American rights cover the United States and Canada, so the company that buys them decides how and when the film opens in those two countries. The deal was struck with Brieuc Jonnet, Grégoire Melin and CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers.

The film was written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Barthélémy Grossmann. Besson produced it alongside LB Production, EuropaCorp and Sutherland, and Romuald Drault served as executive producer. Sutherland plays a rebel priest, and Pacino plays a mob figure who leads the New York criminal underworld. The cast also includes Ever Anderson, Michael Rispoli, Fred Melamed, Chris Tardio and Erik Palladino.

Father Joe had its world premiere at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, where it was shown in the Venice Open section. Screen Daily, reviewing the film from Venice, described it as a violent action-thriller about a priest waging war on the New York criminal underworld.

Festivals like Venice work as a marketplace. Sales agents and buyers see films there, and the deals made in those rooms often decide which titles reach cinemas, sometimes a year or more after the premiere. For Father Joe, the path ran from a September premiere to a November rights deal and now to a planned wide release next year.

Vertical has a recent record with Besson. Its 2025 release Dracula, also written and produced by Besson, took $13 million at the North American box office, according to Deadline. The same film grossed $43 million in cinemas worldwide.

Any date will be set by Vertical, which will weigh it against the rest of the cinema calendar as the year moves on.