Montreal: The Samuel Goldwyn Company has acquired U.S. rights to the Emile Gaudreault feature comedy Mambo Italiano. The deal is a coup for Equinoxe Films, the worldwide distributor, and the film’s producer, Montreal-based Cinemaginaire. The distrib reported brisk international sales for Mambo earlier at this year’s American Film Market.

The sale was negotiated by Yves Dion, VP distribution for Equinoxe, and Meyer Gottlieb, president of Samuel Goldwyn.

Dion says Goldwyn ‘is a solid partner and very passionate about the film.’

Mambo will receive a platform release in half a dozen American keys including L.A., New York and San Francisco, tentatively set for Sept. 19, with a day-and-date 200-print release planned for English Canada.

The film is slated to open ‘on at least 100 screens’ June 6 in the Quebec market backed by a P&A investment of about $1 million, adds Dion.

Mambo tells the story of a dysfunctional Italian immigrant family in Little Italy in Montreal and the ensuing fallout when the old folks find out their son is gay.

Dion declined to say what Goldwyn had put on the table in terms of a minimum guarantee, but did say Equinoxe, as the worldwide distributor, is in line for a percentage of the U.S. gross after Goldwyn recoups its MG and marketing costs.

Despite the inevitable comparisons, the distrib is not talking about a repeat of the success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which did close to $30 million in Canada for Equinoxe. However, Dion says hitting the $5-million mark seems like a good opening target, ‘and more if there’s a popular surge and a crossover.’

‘Mambo Italiano is one of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time,’ says Gottlieb.

At AFM, Equinoxe sold U.K. and Australian rights for Mambo to Icon Pictures, Spanish and Italian rights to Lola Films, German rights to Splendid Films and Israeli rights to Shani Films.

Adapted for the screen by Gaudreault and Steve Galluccio, and based on Galluccio’s hit stage play of the same name, Mambo Italiano was produced on a budget of close to $6 million by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis for Montreal’s Cinemaginaire, producer of Gaudreault’s 2001 box-office hit Nuit de Noces (Wedding Night).