“Foosball” Will Be Released in English by Weinstein Co.

The Weinstein Company has acquired the rights to distribute Foosball in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France.

The film was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Juan José Campanella (The Secret in Their Eyes) and originally released in Argentina in July 2013 as Metegol. The film bears the dual distinction of being a huge hit on its home soil (it was the third-highest grossing film in Argentina last year), and also, with its $21 million budget, the most expensive film to be made in Argentina, animated or otherwise.

The Weinstein Company has re-titled the film Underdogs and will give its new English dub a release date of August 27, 2014. The company is not known for its animation-savvy, although it has distributed some reasonably-performing animated pieces in the past decade like Escape from Planet Earth and Hoodwinked! Those are accompanied by a string of critical and box office failures that date back to its Miramax era (Doogal, The Thief and the Cobbler, Freddie as F.R.o.7., anyone?). With all of the positive buzz generated by Foosball, this looks to be an above-average pickup for the Weinstein Company.

(source: Variety)