EVEREST Starts Principal Photography in Nepal

Universal Pictures, Walden Media and Cross Creek Pictures, announce the start of principal photography on the Working Title Films production of EVEREST. 

Universal Pictures will release EVEREST in North American theatres in 3D and IMAX 3D on 27th February 2015.

Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, EVEREST documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind.  Their mettle tested by the harshest of elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival.

The epic adventure stars Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty), Josh Brolin (True Grit, No Country for Old Men), John Hawkes (Lincoln, Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Source Code, Brokeback Mountain).  They are joined by Martin Henderson (The Ring), Emily Watson (The Book Thief), Michael Kelly (Netflix’s House of Cards) and Thomas M. Wright (television’s The Bridge).  EVEREST will be directed by Baltasar Kormákur (2 Guns, Contraband) and produced by Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson, as well as Nicky Kentish Barnes (About Time).

EVEREST is adapted for the screen by Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God) and Oscar® winner Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire).  Kormákur’s creative team includes director of photography Salvatore Totino (The Da Vinci Code), production designer Gary Freeman (upcoming Maleficent), and costume designer Guy Speranza (The World’s End). 

EVEREST will shoot on location in Nepal on the foothills of Everest, the Italian Alps and at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and Pinewood Studios in the UK.

Universal Pictures will distribute the film worldwide.

About Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios.  Universal Studios is part of NBCUniversal.  NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.  NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group and world-renowned theme parks.  NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

About Working Title Films
Working Title Films, co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner since 1992, is one of the world’s leading film production companies.

Founded in 1983, Working Title has more than 100 films that have grossed more than $6 billion worldwide.  Its films have won 10 Academy Awards® (for Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables, Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo, Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Joe Wright’s Atonement) and 35 BAFTA Awards and numerous prestigious prizes at the Cannes and Berlin International Film Festivals.

About Walden Media
Walden Media creates entertainment for the whole family through successful movies, award-winning books and acclaimed television programs.  A Walden Media production celebrates a great story well told, a transcendent life well lived, or an exploration that expands present possibilities—all while inspiring and entertaining its audience.  Past Walden Media films include The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Journey to the Center of the Earth series, Nim’s Island, Charlotte’s Web, Bridge to Terabithia, Holes, Amazing Grace and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary Waiting for ‘Superman.’  Walden Media’s next film release is The Giver (August 15, 2014), based upon the Newbery Award best-selling book and starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites and Taylor Swift.

About Cross Creek Pictures
Cross Creek Pictures was founded by Timmy Thompson, Tyler Thompson, Brian Oliver and Todd Thompson as an independent film production and finance company with a mandate of developing and strengthening the collaborative relationship between filmmakers and financiers.  The firm currently has a three-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures.

Cross Creek most recently released Universal Pictures’ Rush in September, the story of British Formula One driver James Hunt, which starred Chris Hemsworth with Ron Howard directing, and has finished production of A Walk among the Tombstones, written and directed by Scott Frank and starring Liam Neeson.  The company is also developing the comedy Bathing Suits, written by Buck Henry; McQueen, a Steve McQueen biopic written by James Gray and starring Jeremy Renner; Black Mass, the story of notorious Boston mob figure Whitey Bulger; and an adaptation of The New York Times bestselling novel Beautiful Ruins with filmmaker Todd Field, who will produce through Standard Film Company with Oliver, Thompson, Smuggler Films’ Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody.

Cross Creek’s first production was Darren Aronofsky’s award-winning Black Swan, which it followed with George Clooney’s The Ides of March.