Magnolia has announced that it has picked up the US rights for the Norwegian disaster film The Wave, which is Norway’s official selection for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award. The film recently screened at TIFF, where producers Are Heidenstrom and Martin Sundland state they are, “…thrilled about all the positive feedback our movie has received here in Toronto.”

The synopsis for The Wave reads:

There are more than 300 unstable mountainsides in Norway–one of the largest is Åkerneset, a system of expanding cracks 800 meter long. It is accepted fact that one day it will fall, and when it does, the resulting rockslide of rock will create an 80-meter high tsunami that will hit the local community of Geiranger after just 10 minutes. This is the premise of THE WAVE, a pulse pounding adventure about a family racing to survive the oncoming catastrophe.

The film is said to boast some truly exceptional CGI FX

Heidenstrom and Sundland add:

After a tremendous success with “The Wave” back in Norway, we are ready to send it off into the world. We have previously worked with Magnolia on other movies, and are very happy that they came up with the best and most comprehensive offer on “The Wave”. We are confident that they will do their very best for the movie, and look forward to seeing the result. Magnolia is a solid company, and “The Wave” is in the best of hands for the launch in the United States.

Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles exclaims:

The Wave is an incredibly accomplished action spectacular with phenomenal special effects. But it’s also beautiful filmmaking with multi-dimensional characters and terrific acting. We’re excited that Norway has chosen the film to represent their country at the Oscars this year.

Magnolia is eyeing a release in early 2016. A Norwegian trailer can be seen below.