Cannes, France (May 12, 2026) – Highland Film Group announced today that it has locked distribution deals in key international territories in all media for the action thriller Barracuda starring Anthony Mackie (Marvel’s Captain America franchise, Peacock’s hit series “Twisted Metal,” Disney’s Avengers franchise), Dafne Keen (Deadpool & Wolverine, James Mangold’s Logan), Steven Bauer (AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” Showtime’s “Ray Donovan”), Anthony Del Negro (Netflix’s “Running Point”) and Don Worley. Neil Burger (Limitless starring Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, Divergent starring Kate Winslet and Shailene Woodley, The Illusionist starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti) directs from a screenplay by Adam Mason and Simon Boyes.
Highland Film Group has sold the rights to Barracuda to Amazon for Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, Australia/New Zealand, and Canada; Feelgood Entertainment for Greece; Foxx Media Group for Czech Republic and Slovakia; Monolith Films for Poland; ATV for Turkey; Falcon Films for the Middle East; Shoval Film Production for Israel; PictureWorks for India; Prima Cinema for Indonesia; Kinolight for South Korea and MovieCloud for Taiwan.
The action-packed thriller is produced by Jack Rapke and Aaron Rapke for Image Movers (Cast Away, Flight, Allied, Real Steel); Arianne Fraser, Delphine Perrier and Henry Winterstern for Highland Film Group; Kia Jam (The Mark, The Misfits, Lucky Number Slevin) for K. Jam Media; Todd Lundbohm for 828 Productions (Trap House, Eddington); Peter Jákl for R.U. Robot Studios (Locked, Medieval) and Joe Di Maio (The Black Demon, Cosmic Sin).
Barracuda is executive produced by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis alongside Isaac Lilly for Image Movers, Mark Holder, Christine Holder, Bryan Coyne, Kyle Fox and Walter Josten.
Highland Film Group is handling worldwide rights to Barracuda and co-repping domestic with UTA Independent Film Group. Highland Film Group is co-financing the project alongside Aperture Media Partners. The film is currently in production in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
828 Productions serves as the New Mexico production partner on Barracuda, providing studio facilities, infrastructure, and operational support from its Las Cruces campus.
When Karl (Anthony Mackie), a former smuggler with a haunted past, storms a nightclub in Mexico to rescue Jodie (Dafne Keen), a kidnapped teenage girl, he ignites a chain reaction of blood and bullets that burns across 100 miles of deadly roads toward the U.S. border. The breakout turns into a high-speed race when Karl kills the brother of the ruthless club owner and steals his prized 1973 Plymouth Barracuda. Now hunted by relentless criminals, Karl and Jodie tear across the desert with no way to slow down. Barracuda is a high-octane ride of redemption and roaring engines that never lets up.
“Thanks to our partners at Amazon and our wonderful international distributors, we were able start production last month on Barracuda in New Mexico,” said Highland Film Group CEO Arianne Fraser. “Neil Burger is a fantastic director and brings his striking visual style to Barracuda. This is a big, bold project driven by visceral action sequences shot in real life – production is going very well and the footage looks incredible,” added Highland COO Delphine Perrier.
Highland Film Group’s current slate also includes Lisette Feliciano’s Iron Jane starring Eiza Gonzalez and Brandon Sklenar; Justin Chadwick’s action spy-thriller The Mark starring Jessica Alba, Tom Hopper and Elsa Pataky; Martin Campbell‘s thriller Just Play Dead starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green; Pierre Morel’s action thriller The Good Samaritan starring Daisy Ridley, Josh Duhamel and Sharlto Copley; the espionage action thriller Stratagem starring Noomi Rapace and Teo Yoo and Brad Anderson’s psychological thriller Moral Capacity starring Dacre Montgomery, Diane Lane, Sofia Boutella and Tim Robbins.
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ABOUT HIGHLAND FILM GROUP
Led by founding partners Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, Highland Film Group (HFG) is an award-winning global studio with end-to-end capabilities, driving films from development to release. HFG operates as a producer, financier, distributor and sales agent, with an in-house team that oversees global productions and acquisitions. Launched in 2010, HFG delivers standout films across a wide range of genres and platforms, building a reputation for producing high-octane films in the action, thriller and horror space. In 2020, the studio expanded into U.S. distribution with the successful launch of The Avenue, HFG’s dedicated label managing all release windows, from theatrical through home entertainment to television, SVOD and AVOD.
HFG’s diversified production and sales slate includes William Eubank’s action thriller Land of Bad starring Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth released on 1,300 screens in February 2024 and surged to the #1 spot on Netflix in the US; Benjamin Brewer’s survival action-thriller Arcadian starring Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage, official selection at SXSW; Adam Cooper’s crime thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan which took the #1 spot on Hulu in the U.S. last year; Adrian Grünberg’s shark actioner The Black Demon starring Josh Lucas which claimed the #1 spot on Amazon’s streaming rankings for seven consecutive days following its theatrical release in 2023; the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut produced by Brad Fuller and starring Kate Mara and Laurence Fishburne, world premiere at SXSW; Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller Not Without Hope starring Zachary Levi and Josh Duhamel; Adrian Grünberg’s action thriller Protector starring Milla Jovovich and Justin Chadwick’s action thriller Sierra Madre starring Kiefer Sutherland.
New projects include Neil Burger’s action thriller Barracuda starring Anthony Mackie and Dafne Keen; Justin Chadwick’s action spy-thriller The Mark starring Jessica Alba, Tom Hopper and Elsa Pataky; Martin Campbell‘s thriller Just Play Dead starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green; Brad Anderson’s psychological thriller Moral Capacity starring Dacre Montgomery, Diane Lane, Sofia Boutella and Tim Robbins; the espionage action thriller Stratagem starring Noomi Rapace and Teo Yoo; Pierre Morel’s action thriller The Good Samaritan starring Daisy Ridley and the acclaimed cyber heist thriller LifeHack from producer Timur Bekmambetov, official selection at SXSW and the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Previous titles include Joe Carnahan’s Boss Level starring Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson and Frank Grillo; Lin Oeding’s thriller Braven starring Jason Momoa; Scott Mann’s Final Score starring Dave Bautista and Pierce Brosnan; Berlin, I Love You with Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Jim Sturgess, Mickey Rourke, Diego Luna and Jenna Dewan Tatum, and Vaughn Stein’s Terminal starring Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg.
PR via Maxine Leonard PR