South African production house Nthibah Pictures is not afraid to take risks. Founded in 2018, the company’s mission is to fully finance the upcoming big-budget, high-dynamic genre title Boy kills world, which opens today (April 26) on nearly 2,500 screens in the US. The film, released by Lionsgate’s sister label Roadside Attractions, starring Bill Skarsgård and produced by Sam Raimi, is one of the titles with the ” Biggest Budget” ever released by South Africa.
“Not only is it by far the largest budget for a South African production company, but we also doubled the P&A,” says Fitzjohn.
“We increased the P&A [for the release] “And that too,” says Swart of the Moritz Mohr-directed project, which was shot entirely in South Africa. The film centers on Skarsgård’s boy, who vows revenge after his family is murdered by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the mad matriarch of a corrupt post-apocalyptic dynasty who left the boy orphaned, deaf and voiceless.
It’s a big gamble for a film that has initial previews estimated at around $500,000, but one that the duo say reflects the ambition of which the fledgling production company is capable. Founded in 2018 by venture capital firm Talent10 Holdings Investment Group, Nthibah Pictures has worked hard to build the company from the ground up in South Africa and has big ambitions to create franchises from its intellectual property.
“The idea was to produce content in South Africa, keep budgets very tight, maximize every dollar and create content in South Africa for the global market,” says Swart of the company’s early beginnings.
He adds: “Many productions and studios – Netflix, Amazon and the major studios – have filmed large parts of their films and entire films and television series in South Africa. It’s really good for business, but all the profits go abroad. We want to position ourselves as a global company that is based in South Africa but has a very global view, and to create advantage we would basically own a lot of the things that we actually produce.”
With offices in Johannesburg and Los Angeles, Nthibah Pictures’ films include crime films I’m all girls and DJ Caruso directed Redeeming love. The company recently received $50 million in funding from its parent company Talent10 and has just greenlit a new sci-fi fantasy Project LegionDirector: Jozua Malherbe.
The company was also currently developing a nostalgic arcade video Super Dragon Punch Force 2that occurs in Boy kills worldwith its game development studio partner Talent Digital Art. Additionally, the company has greenlit the development of a new animated sci-fi television series inspired by the video game starring Mario Carvalhal (The Search for Wondla) attached as author. Development of the untitled series, which will explore the topic in more depth, is already underway Super Dragon Punch Force 2 Universe.
It’s an area the company says it has “big plans” to grow into.
In a new development, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) has earmarked Nthibah Pictures for a multi-million investment to grow South Africa’s entertainment industry. The IDC is a self-financing development finance institution established in South Africa in 1940 to promote economic growth and industrial development in South Africa.
“We have something very special and are trying to inspire and stimulate a very difficult economic situation,” says Fitzjohn about building the local South African business. “If there is more infrastructure, if there are more locations and more studios and sound stages and we have more editors, more DoPs and more production designers, we can really make a difference.”