Dakota Johnson and “Hit Man” breakout Adria Arjona will star in a new comedy about navigating an open marriage called “Splitsville” for both Neon and Topic Studios.
“Splitsville” is being directed and written by Michael Covino and also stars both Covino and his writing partner Kyle Marvin, who are reuniting after working together on “The Climb” from 2019.
The film stars Marvin as Carey, who is asked for a divorce by his wife Ashley (Arjona). When Carey seeks advice from his friends Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino), he discovers the secret to their happiness is an open marriage. But when Carey tries it for himself with Ashley and winds up crossing the line, it throws all of their relationships into chaos.
Neon will be distributing “Splitsville” in the U.S. with a release in 2025 and production kicking off this fall. But the distributor through its sales arm is also launching international sales on the movie at TIFF beginning next month.
For Neon and Topic, the two production companies are also teaming up again after first doing so on last year’s “Infinity Pool,” which also happened to be the first movie Neon produced in-house.
Together with Topic Studios and NEON, Covino and Marvin are producing with Emily Korteweg under the team’s production banner Watch This Ready. Johnson, Ro Donnelly, and Samantha Racanelli are also producing for TeaTime Pictures, with Arjona and Paul Barbeau serving as executive producers.
Marvin recently starred in the limited series “WeCrashed,” and Covino recently acted in the upcoming indie comedy “Notice to Quit.” Johnson this year starred in “Madame Web” and “Daddio” alongside Sean Penn, and she’ll next be seen in the new film from Celine Song, “Materialists” at A24, which is now in post-production. Arjona broke out in this year’s “Hit Man” with Glen Powell on Netflix, but she’ll also be seen in “Blink Twice” opening this weekend.
Neon has three movies it’s showing at TIFF this year, including the documentary “Men of War,” Joshua Oppenheimer’s musical about the end of the world “The End” with Tilda Swinton, and Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which first premiered at Cannes and won the Palme d’Or. Through Neon’s international sales branch, led by Kristen Figeroid, it will also be selling “Sharp Corner,” which is premiering at TIFF but does not yet have domestic distribution.
Covino and Marvin are represented by WME and FirstGen Management; Johnson is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment; and Arjona is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.
