Among the genre films vying for attention at the currently running South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX is Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS—and the movie has landed a domestic distributor before the event is even half over.

Screen Daily reports that Magnolia Pictures has snapped up North American and Mexican rights to the movie for its genre-centric Magnet Releasing. “We were blown away by MONSTERS—I can’t think of a more exciting addition to the Magnet slate,” Magnolia’s Tom Quinn tells the trade. “Gareth Edwards is an extraordinary talent and we’re thrilled to bring his vision to American audiences.”

MONSTERS, which Edwards discussed with us here, is a vérité-style thriller following a journalist and a tourist as they travel through Mexico, which has been quarantined following the crash of a NASA probe that has brought alien creatures to Earth. Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able star in the film, which had been kept under a veil of secrecy prior to its SXSW premiere as part of Fantastic Fest’s SX Fantastic series.

Producers Allan Niblo and James Richardson of Britain’s Vertigo Films tell Screen Daily, “Having kept the film a secret for so long, Vertigo is thrilled to have Magnet not only discover it at this year’s SXSW, but immediately become our U.S. partner on this groundbreaking movie. We are all looking forward to releasing MONSTERS together onto an unsuspecting world.”

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