Rivulet Films Acquires ‘John Wick’ Writer Derek Kolstad’s Action-Thriller ‘Acolyte’, Producing & Financing With Ascot Elite

Diana Lodderhose
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Rivulet Films has picked up John Wick writer Derek Kolstad’s original screenplay Acolyte and will finance and produce the project alongside Swiss distributor-producer Ascot Elite Entertainment.

Story is a longtime passion project for Kolstad and follows Robert Miller (aka Acolyte) who returns home to find his home ransacked and his wife Helen missing, along with top secret files from her harrowing NGO work in Syria. He moves with an intense skill and determination that belies his everyman appearance, assembling his highly classified and long-disbanded team Athena, Helios, Talos, Hades, Cerberus, Icarus and Hermes to execute a most lethal operation: rescuing Helen and bringing hell to her captors and their corrupt political allies.

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Project will be produced by Rivulet Films’ Rob Paris and Mike Witherill alongside Ascot Elite Entertainment’s Ralph S. Dietrich, Karin G. Dietrich, Stephan Giger and Daniel Hoeltschi. Christopher Milburn, who brought the parties together, will serve as an exec producer alongside Claudio Faeh. The film is set to be fast-tracked into production with more news on director and cast to come.

Kolstad is the writer and creator of the John Wick franchise which has grossed around $600M worldwide across three films. A fourth installment of the franchise is set for release in March 2023 from Lionsgate.

“In Acolyte, Derek has delivered the perfect follow-up franchise to John Wick and the ensemble of amazing characters he has intricately woven throughout the script offer us an endless array of stories to tell for many years to come,” said Paris and Witherill in a joint statement.

Kolstad is repped by APA, Circle Of Confusion and Behr Abramson Levy.

 

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