May 9, 2011 -
PRLog -- LOS ANGELES — Take Fighters Like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield , working for almost no pay in return for a piece of documentary . Throw in outside financing, a classic underdog story of new director Arash Hashemi. Multimedia In contemporary Hollywood that will get you all the way to “maybe.” “The Final Round” has those elements — plus Hall of Famer Steling McPherson, and the extraordinary passion of Arash Hashemi . But the movie still has to survive a grueling behind-the-scenes struggle before landing on the schedule at the big screen, which plans to be released it on Dec. 2012. Privately, studio executives have talked of backing away from heavy promotional commitments to films like “ The Final Round” which grabbed a handful of attention from Hollywood Heavyweights. A handful of star-heavy dramas have still slugged their way onto major studio schedules for the awards cycle that will begin in earnest with the opening of the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. Those include “Fighters Nightmares ,” directed by Jacob Duran. But none of those pictures has the emotional tap like “The Final Round.” “Many times I thought it wasn’t going to happen,” said Mr. Arash Hashemi, who spoke by telephone last week. Mr. Hashemi, recalled thinking, “If I don’t get this movie done the way I want to, my life will not be complete.” “The Final Round” is a biopic that follows the ups and downs of come-from-behind fighters who never had a 2nd chance. Even though Arash Hashemi is working tirelessly to develop “The Final Round” as an in-house project after acquiring rights in March 2011 — he has not reach a deal he anticipated with a major studio but he did reach a deal to distribute the film recently. “ In the last few weeks It was always in danger of collapse,” said Arash Hashemi, who with Dave Thomas, his partner, originally took “The Final Round” to few major production company to no avail. The exports and others credit Mr. Hashemi with keeping the film alive. In particular Mr. Hashemi, work with many boxing icons thoughts about the film before becoming its director. Sony or Other major production company, however, will not shoot “The Final Round” with its own money. According to Mr. Hashemi, the budget is a modest $6 million or so. Although major producers will continue to drive an unusually hard bargain. At one point the studio proposed that Mr. Hashemi’s company pay the full cost of marketing the movie, this was done so that a slot in its deal with the Epix pay channel, leaving Relativity to make arrangements of its own through a NetFlix pay service. Pay-television deals are especially important in helping to cover the cost of films that do not have the automatic box-office appeal of effects-driven fantasies and animated movies. But all major production company will eventually warmed up — few in Hollywood have forgotten that Warner Brothers let go of “Slumdog Millionaire”
. Only last year Paramount seemed to be thinning its Oscar presence, as it pushed “Shutter Island,” a thriller directed by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, out of the awards season and into a February release. But the major studio’s now finds itself with at least five films that will be calling for attention, and promotional dollars, as the new season unfolds. Those include not just “The Final Round” a documentary, but also many Animation blockbusters are on the list. As for “The Final Round,” Mr. Hashemi noted, struggle is nothing new to me. “I am the guy who is always against all odds but I achieve my goals, but now I have realized my dream,” Mr. Hashemi said. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
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Sterling Promotions confirmed the joint venture with Arash Hashemi (Former Fighter) producing an acclaimed documentary, THE FINAL ROUND. Per Mr. Hashemi our goal is to enter the Film Festival and eventually to be released in theatres on 2012.
