Elevation Pictures and prodco Film Forge are optimistic about a commercial breakthrough for writer/director Brandon Cronenberg with his forthcoming feature Infinity Pool.

The sci fi horror flick (pictured) – hitting North American theatres Jan. 27 – follows frustrated writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman), whose beach resort vacation (in a fictitious country) takes surreal turns. After running afoul of local authorities, they find themselves caught between the regime’s horrific means of punishment and fellow vacationers led by Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert), who entertain themselves in extremely decadent fashion.

This buzzy third feature from Cronenberg, who previously helmed Antiviral (2012) and Possessor (2020), makes its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight program on Saturday (Jan. 21).

“Brandon’s done such a masterful job of realizing it,” says producer Karen Harnisch of Toronto’s Film Forge. “Getting early feedback pre-festival premiere, folks are saying it feels like he’s got his own voice here.” Cronenberg is part of what is becoming Canada’s royal family of dark; he is the son of legendary David Cronenberg, and his sister Caitlin recently wrapped her first feature, the thriller Humane.

Toronto-based Brandon Cronenberg’s friendship with Film Forge co-president Andrew Cividino dates back to film school, and when the director pitched the idea for Infinity Pool, Cividino wanted to be on board. Soon thereafter Elevation did as well.

“I’ve always been a fan of Brandon’s work,” says Elevation co-president Noah Segal. “When Karen and Andrew came in with this project we had to decide, ‘Do we buy it as a distributor or do we help them get it off the ground?’ So we came in and helped them smooth it out and did a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff to make sure they were able to shoot this movie.”

Cividino, Harnisch, Segal and Elevation head of production Christina Piovesan are credited as producers. The $12 million film is structured as a copro also involving Anita Juka of Croatia-based 4Film, and Daniel Kresmery and Jonathan Halperyn of Budapest-based Hero Squared. Telefilm has supported the film to the tune of $2.82 million through its production and development programs, as well as its promotional and marketing programs.

In its search for the ideal shooting location, the Canadian team connected with Hero Squared in Hungary, which is a landlocked country but which offers attractive rebate incentives. The prodco also has a network of copro partners in countries fronting the sea.

“They helped us understand how we could access those locations by partnering with another country while using the Hungarian crew and rebate,” Harnisch explains. “So we scouted Croatia in 2019 with Brandon, his cinematographer Karim Hussain and first AD Rob Cotterill. We knew right away it was the perfect fit because it has this sort of post-Soviet brutalism, but is also Mediterranean.”

Shooting began in September 2021, around the same time the elder Cronenberg was shooting Crimes of the Future in Greece, and the two productions ended up competing for some of the same actors, Harnisch says.

Production got underway with one week in Hungary, followed by the six-hour-plus drive southwest to the Amadria Park resort in Šibenik, Croatia for 12 days and then back to Hungary to wrap.

The back-and-forth, Harnisch explains, “was necessary for location access and talent availability reasons, but we were able to structure the schedule in a way that was good for Brandon and the actors. It was challenging, as it’s a very ambitious film and we were shooting abroad with crew and cast from many countries and creating an entire world from scratch. Thankfully, we had amazing buy-in from everybody involved.”

Elevation is hammering out release details with Cineplex and anticipates a launch on more than 150 screens across Canada. Segal admits that current theatrical traffic remains concerning – Cineplex recently revealed that overall box office last month was 65% of what it was pre-pandemic in December 2019 – but remains bullish.

“We’re finding that films on the edge are working well, as evidenced by Triangle of Sadness, where there was no letdown, and we’re seeing numbers for The Whale taking off,” he says. “So if a film has something unique and is a sort of spectacle, audiences don’t want to sit at home and watch it. They want to experience it the way films should be experienced.”

Working in Infinity Pool‘s favour is that movies in which bad things happen to wealthy vacationers are in vogue, illustrated by Triangle of Sadness, The Menu, and even Netflix smash Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Infinity Pool is targeting fans of the dark and twisted, right down to its poster that draws inspiration from David Lynch’s Lost Highway.

“If we can position Brandon to look a bit like Lynch or his dad or a child of both, that would not be a horrible thing,” Segal quips.

Meanwhile, the rollout south of the border through Neon looks to be substantial with an estimated opening on 1,500-2,000 screens, although the distributor did not provide confirmation. The title is also being prominently featured on the website of AMC, the U.S.’s largest theatre chain. Through Neon’s involvement came additional financial participation from rising Hollywood prodco Topic Studios.

Focus Features already has international rights, so there are no sales deals to chase at Sundance. As the festival screening comes just days ahead of the wide release, the week will be all about generating a critical mass of attention. The European launch kicks off next month at the Berlinale.

“Looking at Brandon’s publicity schedule makes me want to take a nap,” Harnisch says with a laugh. “He’s got to be in New York, then Elevation and Telefilm are hosting a Canadian premiere in Toronto on the 25th. We’re excited and trepidatious to see how audiences respond to the film, but a [major breakthrough] is our intention for sure.”

Image courtesy of Elevation Pictures