Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to The Competition, a timely romantic comedy that plays on the public’s predilection to latch onto online influencers and spins traditional dating off its axis. Thora Birch (American Beauty), Chris Klein (American Pie), Claire Coffee (Grimm) and David Blue (Ugly Betty) star in the feature directed and produced by Harvey Lowry (Christmas in the Heartland), written and produced by first-timer Kelsey Tucker.

Birch also served as a producer on the film, which will premiere in theaters and on demand on January 26. Scott South is the Executive Producer.

Lauren (Birch) becomes the voice of a generation when, after one too many bad boyfriends, she launches a blog promoting “The PIG Theory.” The PIG Theory insists you can enjoy all that romance has to offer, but only for six months. At this “Point of Infidelity and Guilt,” you must break up before your mate becomes unfaithful. Lauren rises as a guru and beacon of light for her followers, but Lauren’s sister, Gena (Coffee), is concerned. She introduces Lauren to the perfect man, Calvin (Klein), and they hit it off so an idea strikes: A competition! Calvin will pick five friends who have been in a relationship for longer than six months, and Lauren will pick the enchantress to be their downfall. If three out of five cheat, Calvin must walk away. But if three out of five resist temptation, Lauren must shut down her blog and open her heart to Calvin.

The competition is on and their friends will be the challengers who determine their destiny!

Said Writer/Producer Kelsey Tucker, “Thora and I both share a humoristic view of how the world really works.  There are always those people who will jump at the chance to engage in bad behavior.  But on the flip side, there are people out there who are really happy with the ones they love, and really do want to do the right thing.  We wanted to turn the heat up on that and play with the fine lines between those types of people — that’s where the humor lies.  If we’re making you uncomfortable and making you laugh at the same time, we’ve done our jobs.”

Gravitas Director of Acquisitions Josh Spector shared, “Thora Birch and Chris Klein give hilarious and heartwarming performances in this incredibly relatable film. Gravitas couldn’t be more excited to be sharing Harvey Lowry and Kelsey Tucker’s creation with audiences everywhere.”

The deal was negotiated by Spector on behalf of Gravitas Ventures with Tucker on behalf of the filmmakers.