New Line founder Robert Shaye’s thriller Ambition to get fall release

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It has been three years since it was announced that New Line Cinema founder / former CEO Robert Shaye, producer of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise, was directing a thriller that was then called GIFTED. The film has since been retitled AMBITION, and now there is finally a good update to report on it.

Shout! Studios has acquired the North America distribution rights to AMBITION through a deal with Shaye's new company Unique Features. Shout! is planning to give it a day-and-date theatrical and VOD release sometime this fall.

AMBITION is described as being "a modernist version of Douglas Sirk's 1950s melodrama thrillers" and it stars Katherine Hughes as 

Jude Hunter, an intensely driven musician preparing for the biggest audition of her life. As a series of deaths surround her, she recognizes the pattern that seems to connect her with the deaths and her ambition. One night, her suspicions are confirmed: She becomes the target of a murderer fueled by the jealousy of her success.

The screenplay was written by John Rocco and Jenna Lyn Wright.

Giles Matthey, Bryan Batt, Kyanna Simone Simpson, Dylan McNamara, and Sonoya Mizuno co-star, and the film features a special appearance by genre icon Lin Shaye… who happens to be Robert Shaye's sister.

Robert Shaye produced the film with Sarah Victor and the late Michael Lynne. Phillip B. Goldfine, Benjamin Sacks, and Yuli Masinovsky serve as executive producers.

The producer/director had this to say about the deal with Shout!:

I am tremendously enthused to have Shout! Studios bring our latest film AMBITION to its intended audience. Shout! has the creativity, understanding, and sensitivity that reminds me of the most successful period of independent distribution at New Line. They aren’t just sales people. They are a new creative connection for movie goers looking for excitement, surprises, and fun. I don’t want to give all of those things away in this brief statement, but I believe AMBITION arrives exactly in Shout!’s sweet spot."

After seeing Shaye tell stories and hearing stories that were told about him in ELM STREET retrospectives, I have an interest in anything he decides to make. I'll be checking out AMBITION for sure.