Village Roadshow Pictures is an American film company founded in 1989 that co-finances and co-produces major Hollywood motion pictures. It is a division of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is majority-owned by Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors, with the Australian media company Village Roadshow currently holding a 20% minority stake.[1][2]
Village Roadshow Pictures self-distributes its filmed entertainment through affiliates in several territories around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore (the latter through Golden Village).[5]JPMorgan Chase and Rabobank also provide funding for the company’s film slate with Warner Bros.[6] Village Roadshow Pictures had a second slate co-financing with agreement with Sony Pictures, which ended in 2016.[7]
History
Village Roadshow Pictures was founded in 1989 by Greg Coote, who served as president, when it purchased certain assets of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.[8][9][10] The company’s first film was The Delinquents and its first hit was Fortress in 1992. In 1993, Village Roadshow Pictures expanded into television production with the launch of its first television series Paradise Beach.[11]
In 1995, Village Roadshow Pictures launched a television division headed by Jeffrey Hayes.[12][13] Also that year, the company started an international sales division called Village Roadshow Pictures International, which was led by Bobby Myers.[14] In 1996, Village Roadshow Pictures Television and Yoram Gross formed a joint venture focused on animation.[15]
In April 1997, Village Roadshow Pictures and Intermedia formed a joint venture called Village Intermedia Pictures.[16] The deal ended several months later when Village Roadshow Pictures and Intermedia decided to cut ties and became independent again.[17][18] In September 1997, the company underwent restructuring with Michael Lake joined the company as managing director.[19] In October 1997, Yoram Gross-Village Roadshow signed a co-production alliance with EM.TV & Merchandising a Munich-based distribution and merchandising company to partner on 10 animated series over the next five years. [20]
In December 1997, Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Bros. signed an agreement to co-finance and distribute at least 20 movies over the next five years. Under the deal, Village Roadshow would produce the films and Warner Bros. would market and release them worldwide, except in Australia and New Zealand. Bruce Berman, the former Warners’ theatrical production president, signed on as chairman and CEO of the company.[21][22]
In 1998, Village Roadshow Pictures announced that it would sell its television division in a management buyout to Greg Coote and Jeffrey Hayes, who renamed Village Roadshow Pictures Television to Coote/Hayes Productions. Around the same time, the company announced it was shutting down the international sales unit.[23] As part of its exit plan from the sales business, Roadshow sold international rights to its Western productions to Icon Entertainment International and the Australian films to Beyond Films Limited.[24][25] Also that year, Village Roadshow Pictures sold off its 50% stake in the Yoram Gross animated studio venture to EM.TV & Merchandising, which would become Yoram Gross-EM.TV.[15]
In 2006, through a group led by Act III Communications, Norman Lear and his partner Hal Gaba purchased 50% of Village Roadshow Pictures (VRP). Their entity, Crescent Film Group, included long-time colleague Michael Lambert through Lambert Media Group and Clarity Partners as investors.[26] Crescent invested $115 million for its interest in VRP.[27] Village Roadshow Pictures used the $115 million invested by Crescent to repay an inter-company loan of $100 million owed to its parent company, as well as pay a $15 million dividend to the existing VRP shareholders and management.
In 2008, Concord Music Group merged into Village Roadshow Pictures to form Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG). Investors in VREG included the shareholders of Crescent, as shown above, as well as Australia's Village Roadshow Limited and Tailwind Capital.[28][29]
In 2012, Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures extended their co-financing first look deal through 2017.[30] In May 2014, VRPG established a supplementary co-financing production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment which commenced with the release of The Equalizer and Annie. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available capital. In 2013, Concord Music Group was sold to Wood Creek Capital, an affiliate of MassMutual, for approximately $120 million.[31][32]
In 2015, VREG, the holding company of Village Roadshow Pictures and Village Roadshow Television, was recapitalized with a $480 million investment that included funds from Falcon Investment Advisors and Vine Alternative Investments.[33] Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors added additional capital in April 2017 to take a controlling stake in the company.[34] This was to fund a new strategic plan for an expanded film slate and add production of television programs and other content offerings.[35]
More recently, Phantom Four Films signed a first look deal with Village Roadshow Pictures.[36] On September 27, 2021, Bruce Berman announced that he would step down as CEO of the company.[37] On December 14, 2021, the company had signed a pact with Fox Entertainment to distribute pictures for Tubi and partnered with Kevin Garrett to launch Black Noir Cinema.[38][39]
co-production with The Frederick S. Pierce Company
Notes
Related Research Articles
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American independent film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Village Roadshow Pty Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and majority owned by Village Roadshow Corporation, with members of founder Roc Kirby's family in the top roles.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. is the American home video distribution division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and internationally Searchlight Pictures; which operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit in the United States.
Spyglass Media Group, LLC is an independent film and television production and finance company founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998.
Beacon Communications, LLC, commonly referred to as Beacon Pictures, is an American film and television production and international sales company founded in 1990 by Armyan Bernstein, who is also its chairman. The company produces motion pictures for studios such as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In 1996, it struck a first look deal with Universal.
Regency Enterprises is an American-British-Luxembourgish entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was founded in 1982 as the successor to Regency International Pictures.
Legendary Entertainment, LLC is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major studios, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures, as well as streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. Since 2016, Legendary became a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group, with American equity firm Apollo buying a minority stake in 2022. In 2024, Legendary bought out Wanda's stake, making the former and Apollo equal partners.
Bruce Berman is an American film industry executive and executive producer. He is the chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures, a position he has held from 1997 to 2021. His credits as an executive producer include American Sniper, The Lego Movie, The Great Gatsby, the Ocean's trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Happy Feet and The Matrix franchise.
Matt Reeves is an American filmmaker who first gained recognition for the WB drama series Felicity (1998–2002), which he co-created with J. J. Abrams. Reeves came to widespread attention for directing the hit monster-film Cloverfield (2008). He also directed the vampire drama Let Me In (2010), and the critically acclaimed science-fiction sequels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He directed the superhero film The Batman (2022), which stars Robert Pattinson as the title character.
Roadshow Entertainment is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was Mad Max. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.
All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group consists of more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from the United Kingdom and all other parts of Europe, New Zealand and the United States.
Alcon Entertainment, LLC is an American indie film and television production company, founded in 1997 by film producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Since its establishment, Alcon Entertainment has developed and financed films that are ultimately distributed – in the United States mostly, and internationally on occasion – by Warner Bros. Pictures, following a ten-year motion picture production agreement.
Flying Bark Productions Pty. Ltd. is an Australian entertainment and animation studio. The studio acts as a full-service production facility across feature films, television and an assorted range of digital content. The studio was established by Yoram and Sandra Gross in 1967 as Yoram Gross Film Studios.
Jerry Bruckheimer Films Inc. (JBF) is an American independent film production company formed by Jerry Bruckheimer in 1995, after cutting his ties with film producer Don Simpson before his death in 1996. It produces blockbuster films such as the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
RatPac Entertainment, LLC is an American media and entertainment company that finances and produces motion pictures, television, documentaries, live theater, and podcasts. The company is owned by Brett Ratner and James Packer.
Act III Communications is an American media and entertainment company owned by the estate of producer and screenwriter Norman Lear. It was started in 1985 following Lear's sale of Embassy Communications to The Coca-Cola Company. In a Wall Street Journal interview in 1988, Lear explained the name by noting that in a Shakespeare play, there are always more than three acts and that he expects there to be an Act IV and V. Act III served as Lear's business vehicle, unconnected to his other activities as a political activist and philanthropist.
Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison.
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California. Animated films produced by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation are also released under the studio banner.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
