Bleecker Street said Tuesday that it has acquired U.S. theatrical rights to Musk, the feature documentary about Elon Musk from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney.
The deal teams the distributor with HBO Documentary Films and Universal Pictures Content Group and will see Bleecker Street release the film ahead of its premiere on HBO Max.
No release dates have been set yet for Musk, on which Gibney, who has tackled high-profile figures in his work like Julian Assange, Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes and Jack Abramoff, turns his focus to one of the world’s most influential figures in a story that is evolving in real time.
“No biographical portrait, outside of obvious political figures, has centered on an individual so at the crossroads of our society as Elon Musk,” Kent Sanderson, CEO of Bleecker Street, said in a statement. “But there is also no filmmaker that I could possibly imagine bringing that story to audiences with unmatched clarity, audacity, and urgency more than Alex Gibney.”
Bleecker execs Tyler DiNapoli and Myles Bender previously worked with Gibney on 2013’s Assange doc We Steal Secrets. Gibney’s other credits include the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Musk is produced by Gibney, Jessie Deeter, and Erin Edeiken from Jigsaw Productions; Zhang Xin and Joey Marra from Closer Media; Nick Shumaker and Jessica Grimshaw from Anonymous Content; and Dana O’Keefe from Double Agent. Executive producers include New Regency’s Yariv Milchan, and Natalie Lehmann; Richard Perello from Jigsaw; William Horberg from Closer Media; David Levine from Anonymous Content; as well as Sanderson and Miranda King for Bleecker Street.
HBO Documentary Films previously pre-bought North American streaming and TV rights. Black Bear is handling international sales and made the overseas deal with UPCG.
