Fox Searchlight Pictures president Peter Rice announced that the company has acquired all available worldwide rights to Thank You for Smoking, from David O. Sacks' Room 9 Entertainment.

Jason Reitman's feature debut, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 9, is described as a fiercely satirical look at today's "culture of spin" based on Christopher Buckley's acclaimed 1994 novel of the same title.

The movie, starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, JK Simmons and Robert Duvall, was produced by David O. Sacks, with ContentFilm's Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt and Alessandro Camon serving as executive producers, along with Michael Beugg.

The rights Fox Searchlight acquired exclude those that previously went to the IndieCircle distribution group for Italy, France, Benelux and Switzerland, as well as Scandinavia's ScanBox. These territories were pre-sold by Content Film International, Room 9 Entertainment's production partner on Thank You for Smoking.

The story revolves around Nick Naylor (Eckhart), chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture.

Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator (Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (Rob Lowe) to promote smoking in movies.

Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (Duvall) and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage, but he begins to think about how his work makes him look in the eyes of his young son Joey (Bright).


Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice said: Razor-sharp comedy doesn't come around often. Jason Reitman and his wonderful ensemble cast, led by Aaron Eckhart, have created an incredibly funny, very smart, sharply directed adaptation of Chris Buckley's beloved novel.
The audience response here in Toronto has been amazing and we are thrilled that David Sacks and Jason have chosen us as partners to distribute the movie.

According to Writer/Director Jason Reitman: Fox Searchlight will be a fantastic distributor for 'Smoking' and I couldn't be happier that we were able to make a deal with them.

Fox Searchlight plans to release Thank You for Smoking next year.