Berlin’s International Film Festival is just now getting underway, and already we’re beginning to catch wind of exciting projects emerging from the European Film Market. Case in point: Code 8, a bold sci-fi feature starring Stephen and Robbie Amell.
Best known for their work on the small screen – Stephen with Arrow; Robbie with The Flash – the Amells headlined Jeff Chan’s short film of the same name when it launched in 2016. An Indiegogo campaign was quickly whipped into shape with the intention of transforming Code 8 into a full-length feature and, after raising upwards of $1.7 million, Deadline brings word from Berlin that XYZ Films has scooped up international rights to the project in question.
The script, one dreamed up by Chan and Chris Paré, takes place in the not-so-distant future, where a portion of the human population – 4 percent, to be precise – are born with some type of supernatural ability. But Code 8 deviates from tradition in the sense that, instead of being championed as heroes, those gifted individuals are forced to live out their miserable lives in extreme poverty, forcing the city’s police force to adopt more aggressive tactics in order to maintain some semblance of peace.
Here’s the official logline, with filming expected to commence in Toronto this May:
“The story follows a man (Robbie Amell, The Flash) struggling to pay for his mother’s medical treatment. Forced to work as a day laborer, he is recruited by a criminal (Stephen Amell, Arrow) who teaches him how to use his powers to pull off a series of crimes. Sung Kang (the Fast and the Furious franchise), who also was in the original short, returns to play the relentless cop who pursues them.”
Code 8 is officially bound for the big screen. No further details were disclosed at this time, but we’ve included Jeff Chan’s original short up above so you can see what all the fuss is about.