TriCoast Entertainment has acquired worldwide representation rights to Mario Bello’s thriller “Wait Till Helen Comes” from Caramel Films, Variety has learned exclusively.
TriCoast will launch sales at the Cannes Film Festival, which opens May 11. Entertainment One will distribute the film in Canada.
Bello and real-life sisters Sophie Nelisse (“The Book Thief”) and Isabelle Nelisse (“Mama”) star. Dominic James directed from a script by Victoria Sanchez Mandryk, and shot the movie in the fall of 2014 in Winnipeg.
The project, adapted from the 1986 novel by Mary Downing Hahn, is a Caramel Film Production in association with Mednick Productions. The story centers on a house haunted by the tormented ghost of a little girl, whom Isabelle Nelisse’s character befriends.
Author Downing Hahn makes a cameo appearance in the movie as well. Producers are André Rouleau, Don Carmody, Victoria Sanchez Mandryk, Valérie d’Auteuil and Inferno Pictures with executive producers Scott Mednick and Manuel Freedman.
Jennifer Love Hewitt was attached in 2011 to make her feature directing debut on the project.
“‘Wait Till Helen Comes’ is an elevated genre movie in high-demand but low supply,” said Daisy Hamilton, TriCoast’s VP of acquisitions. “It is truly a scary ghost story for children not allowed at PG-13 and R-rated movies, yet it still delivers a message of family values.”