Sony Lands Michelle Yeoh Action Movie ‘The Surgeon’

The studio has landed the medical action title that bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival in what is described as a competitive situation. No financial figure were made available for the deal, which encompasses North American rights, Latin America, Italy, China, and Hong Kong.

Going into the fest, The Surgeon was one of the more buzzed about titles. It stars Michelle Yeoh as a newly retired surgeon who is kidnapped in order to perform surgery on a mystery patient. Then, she must use her medical skills to escape — dispatching bad guys with anatomical precision.

Real life doctor Roshan Sethi wrote and directed the film, which The Hollywood Reporter critic Caryn James called “a genre-bending swirl that is part The Pitt (but gorier), part tense crime thriller, part action movie and part midnight movie, all infused with witty touches. It is wildly entertaining.”

Sethi lobbied to have the creditials M.D. added to his credit to help with the suspension of disbelief. “The fact that it might be real is part of what makes it interesting to watch. You feel like you’re being exposed to something that you didn’t know before,“ he told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of its TIFF debut.

Producers include Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Diarmaid McGrath of Thunder Road; Tango’s Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Tango’s Neil Shah, Steve Klinsky, Adam Kolbrenner of Lit Entertainment Group, John Schoenfelder, and Russell Ackerman.

WME negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers. Legendary-owned 193 handled international sales rights. For the studio, the deal was negoited by Joe Matukewicz, president, Sony Pictures; Virginia Longmuir, EVP business affairs; and Elan Kovo, VP Business Development & FP&A.