EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Classics has just acquired North American, Southeast Asian, and worldwide Airline rights (excluding France) to anticipated drama-thriller Bunker, written and directed by Oscar winner Florian Zeller (The Father).

Pic stars Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men), Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Stephen Graham (Adolescence), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), and Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus).

An Oscar campaign is being lined up with a qualifying run end of year before release in early 2027.

In Bunker, when an architect accepts a morally ambiguous project — building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire — his wife begins to question their marriage after 17 years together. The film is described as “a thriller that delves into the emotional and moral challenges a couple faces amid the tensions of the world around them, exploring the fears, doubts, and dilemmas that define our era.”

The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and CAA Media Finance and WME, who are handling domestic sales, and FilmNation Entertainment, who is handling international sales on the film. Pathé will distribute the film in France, Switzerland and West Africa.

The film continues SPC’s relationship with Zeller that dates back to the release of his first film, Oscar winner The Father, and his second film, The Son.

Pic is produced by Federica Sainte-Rose for Blue Morning Pictures, alongside Fernando Bovaira and Simon de Santiago of Mod Producciones. Alice Dawson is also a producer on the film, with Pathé’s Ardavan Safaee and Mediawan’s Pierre-Antoine Capton serving as co-producers. Executive producers include Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat, Andrés Duprat, Emanuel Nunez, Fernando Sokolowicz and Helen Marti.