Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Motion Pictures |
Founded | 2017 |
Headquarters | New York, New York, United States Burbank, California, United States |
Key people | Nick Savva (GM), Jeff Stabenau (co-founder) |
Services | Digital Distribution |
Parent | Giant Interactive LLC |
Subsidiaries | Drafthouse Films |
Website | Giant Pictures |
Giant Pictures is an American independent film distribution company founded by Nick Savva and Jeff Stabenau with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. The company releases feature films, documentaries [1] and series on streaming platforms, with an emphasis on flexibility and customization for filmmakers. [2] Giant Pictures owns and operates specialty theatrical label, Drafthouse Films. [3] Giant is the distribution and technology partner of the Tribeca Festival.
Founded in New York City in 2017 by Nick Savva, who had previously worked in digital distribution for the Tribeca Festival, [4] the company was initially launched under the name Streaming Plus. Its first film release was Newness directed by Drake Doremus, which the company had acquired following its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. [5]
Initially a subsidiary of Giant Interactive, a technology services company owned by post production entrepreneur, Jeff Stabenau, [6] Giant Pictures focused on distribution to streaming platforms [7] including AppleTV, Vudu, Prime Video, Netflix, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV and Peacock. [8]
In 2020, in order to expand its global digital distribution efforts, Giant Pictures split from Giant Interactive, although the companies maintained a close relationship as technology partners. [9] Subsequently, the company built various apps and channels [10] [11] on platforms such as The Roku Channel, [12] XUMO, LG, Vizio and Plex. [13] By 2022, Giant Pictures was releasing upwards of 40 new feature films annually and had more than 1,000 titles under management via content partnerships with numerous independent studios. [14] [15]
In February 2023, it was reported by Deadline.com that Giant Pictures had acquired US theatrical and VOD rights to A House Made Of Splinters, one of the 2023 Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature. [16] Subsequently, Giant released the film on digital platforms including Apple TV and Prime Video. A theatrical release was announced at select Alamo Drafthouse theaters beginning in March 2023.
May 2023 saw the release of feature documentary, Nuclear Now, directed by Oliver Stone, which Giant co-released along with two of its studio partners, Abramorama and Participant Media. [17] The film makes the case for nuclear power as a vital energy solution in the face of climate change. [18]
Following a collaboration on the re-release of the cult 1980's genre movie Action USA, [19] in early 2021 Giant Pictures signed a sales representation deal with Austin, TX-based distribution label, Drafthouse Films, for the acclaimed films in its catalog. [20] Subsequently, the Drafthouse titles were made available on multiple streaming platforms including Tubi, [21] Kanopy, [22] Shudder and Hulu. [23] In March 2022, Giant Pictures acquired Drafthouse Films with Nick Savva serving as Drafthouse Films' new CEO and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League becoming chairman. [24]
The first two films to be released by the newly acquired company were Nr. 10, directed by Alex Van Warmerdam and Masking Threshold, directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. [25] Both films had a close association with Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and its related media companies, having premiered at Fantastic Fest then playing at Alamo Drafthouse locations, followed by streaming releases on the Alamo On Demand platform and through Giant Pictures. [26]
In August 2021 Giant Pictures partnered with the Tribeca Festival to create The Tribeca Channel, a free, ad-supported movie streaming channel in the US and Canada. [27]
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the movie A Bronx Tale in September 2023, Giant Pictures produced a 4K digital restoration of the film on behalf of Tribeca Enterprises. [28] The digital coloring process was handled at Goldcrest Post in New York and was overseen personally by director, Robert De Niro. [29] The restoration took 9 months to complete. To accompany the re-release of the film on UHD Blu-ray, Giant created bonus features including new interviews with De Niro, as well writer and star, Chazz Palminteri. In June 2023, the Tribeca Festival, which De Niro founded along with the film's producer, Jane Rosenthal, premiered the 4K restored version with a special 30th anniversary screening at New York City's Beacon Theater. [30]
In January 2024 Tribeca Enterprises and Giant Pictures partnered on a US distribution label called Tribeca Films, to manage the distribution of high-quality independent films from the film festival circuit on streaming platforms. [31] The label aimed to focus on U.S. transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) and advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) with the opportunity for distribution across Giant Pictures’ streaming infrastructure, as well as on the Tribeca Channel. Tribeca Films set a goal of acquiring 25 titles per year from festivals like Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the Tribeca Festival. Trade publication, Indiewire, wrote of the initiative: "As the market has changed and made it harder for filmmakers to find homes for their festival movies, even with so many more options available, having one more buyer in the market should be good news for any indie filmmakers". [32]
Title | Release Date |
---|---|
Newness | 11/3/2017 |
Mr. Roosevelt | 12/26/2017 |
What We Started | 3/23/2018 |
White Boy | 5/29/2018 |
They Remain | 5/29/2018 |
Pressing On: The Letterpress Film | 6/19/2018 |
Time Trap | 11/13/2018 |
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. | 12/11/2018 |
American Gospel: Christ Alone | 1/5/2019 |
306 Hollywood | 3/5/2019 |
In Reality [33] | 4/2/2019 |
Tater Tot & Patton | 5/4/2019 |
Ghost Light [34] | 6/18/2019 |
Love, Antosha | 11/12/2019 |
Skid Row Marathon | 11/19/2019 |
Iron Fists And Kung Fu Kicks [35] | 9/24/2019 |
Cabaret Maxime [36] | 3/3/2020 |
She's Allergic To Cats [37] | 4/7/2020 |
The Panama Papers | 5/26/2020 |
Volition [38] | 7/10/2020 |
Watson | 7/14/2020 |
Feels Good Man | 9/4/2020 |
My Darling Vivian | 12/8/2020 |
Action USA [39] | 1/8/2021 |
#Like | 1/26/2021 |
Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know [40] | 2/2/2021 |
The Delicacy | 6/1/2021 |
River's End: California's Next Water War [41] | 9/20/2021 |
Death of Nintendo | 10/5/2021 |
The Snail and the Whale | 10/5/2021 |
The End of the Storm | 11/2/2021 |
See You Next Christmas | 11/9/2021 |
Salt in My Soul [42] | 1/25/2022 |
The Hunt for Planet B | 3/8/2022 |
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey [43] | 5/10/2022 |
Being BeBe | 6/7/2022 |
Mission: JOY Finding Happiness in Troubled Times | 6/7/2022 |
Dinner in America | 6/7/2022 |
The Bridge of San Luis Rey: Remastered | 6/14/2022 |
Turbo Cola | 6/14/2022 |
Dark Cloud | 6/28/2022 |
The Skeleton's Compass | 9/6/2022 |
Elizabeth Windsor | 9/13/2022 |
A House Made of Splinters | 2/21/2023 |
Messwood | 4/18/2023 |
Nuclear Now | 4/28/2023 |
All Man: The International Male Story | 6/2/2023 |
A Bronx Tale (30th Anniversary Edition) | 9/12/2023 |
A Disturbance in the Force | 12/5/2023 |
Everything in Between | 2/6/2024 |
Mubi is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available on its platform. The catalog consists of world cinema films, such as arthouse films, documentary films, independent films. Additionally, it publishes Notebook, a film criticism and news publication, and provides weekly cinema tickets to selected new-release films through MUBI GO.
Tim League is an American entrepreneur and film producer based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain and the founder of Drafthouse Films, a film distribution company, where he produced The ABCs of Death and other films He is co-founder of Fantastic Fest, a film festival, Mondo, an entertainment merchandise company, and Neon, a film production and distribution company.
The Film Collaborative (TFC) is the first non-profit, full-service provider dedicated to the distribution of independent film, including narrative features and documentaries. Based in Los Angeles, The Film Collaborative services filmmakers worldwide by providing distribution guidance and support as well as theatrical, film festival and digital distribution of art house, independent and world cinema.
Drafthouse Films is an independent film distribution company based in Austin, Texas which releases "provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world". It was founded in 2010 by Tim League, who had previously founded the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain. Drafthouse Films has released a variety of films since its inception.
Annapurna Pictures is an American independent media company founded by Megan Ellison on April 2, 2011 and based in Los Angeles, California. It is active in film, television and theatrical production, film distribution, and video game publishing.
Pat Healy is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in Better Call Saul, Great World of Sound,Compliance, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Station 19, in which he was upgraded to the main cast in 2022. He directed his first feature film, Take Me, in 2017.
Fisher Klingenstein Ventures, LLC, doing business as FilmRise, is a New York–based film/television studio and streaming network, which has become one of the largest independent providers of content to ad-supported streaming (AVOD) platforms, in addition to providing the largest free direct to consumer service with its 22 owned-and-operated streaming channels, the "FilmRise Streaming Network". Currently, the FilmRise Streaming Network has reported more than 31.5 million downloads in the U.S. and can be seen on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Comcast, iOS, Android and Apple, among other platforms. FilmRise also syndicates its own digital linear channels to platforms including The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, and Amazon's Freevee and Vizio.
Bleecker Street Media LLC is an independent American film company that specializes in film distribution. The company is based in New York City and named after 65 Bleecker Street, the street address of founder Andrew Karpen's prior company Focus Features. Founded in 2014, the studio was established with the goal to distribute "smart house" films that combine the entertainment of studio blockbusters with the artistic indie allure.
Indie Rights, Inc. is an American distributor of independent films, based in Los Angeles, California. Indie Rights is a subsidiary of Nelson Madison Films and was incorporated in 2007 to act as distributor for other independent filmmakers. The corporation began as a private MySpace group where the makers of independent films could get information about the changing face of film distribution; founders Linda Nelson and Michael Madison created Indie Rights so that distribution contracts could be signed by a legal entity. The corporation distributes films largely through video on demand services, though more recently it has overseen such theatrical releases as We Are Kings and Fray, both in 2014.
Motto Pictures is a documentary production company based in Brooklyn, New York specializing in producing and executive producing documentary features. Motto secures financing, builds distribution strategies, and creatively develops films, and has produced over 25 feature documentaries and won numerous awards.
Shudder is an American over-the-top subscription video on demand service featuring horror, thriller, and supernatural fiction titles, owned and operated by AMC Networks. The streaming service offers original films, TV series—such as Creepshow, based on the 1982 film of the same name—and documentary series. Shudder's library also features non-original programming, including well-known horror films, and annually airs a Halloween "Ghoul Log".
Bathtubs Over Broadway is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Dava Whisenant. Comedy writer Steve Young’s assignment to scour bargain-bin vinyl for a late-night segment becomes an unexpected, decades-spanning obsession when he stumbles upon the strange and hilarious world of industrial musicals. The film premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was released on November 30, 2018 by Focus World.
1091 Pictures is an American production company based in New York City and Los Angeles. The company was founded as the film and television division subsidiary of The Orchard in 2015. The company is best known for the Oscar-nominated films Life, Animated and Cartel Land. Sony divested the company and its catalogue of over 4,000 in 2019, with the company adopting the name 1091 Media. In 2020, the company rebranded as 1091 Pictures and announced that its parent company rebranded as Streamwise, the name of its new technology platform in development.
Rachel Lears is an American independent documentary filmmaker. She is the director of Knock Down the House (2019), a documentary film about four women running for Congress in the 2018 midterms, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2019 and was sold to Netflix for $10 million, releasing on May 1, 2019. Her other documentaries include The Hand That Feeds (2014), about undocumented immigrant workers in a labor dispute with owners at a Manhattan bakery café, and To the End (2022), about climate change.
I Carry You with Me (Te Llevo Conmigo) is a 2020 Spanish-language drama film directed by Heidi Ewing, from a screenplay by Ewing and Alan Page Arriaga. It stars Armando Espitia, Christian Vázquez, Michelle Rodríguez, Ángeles Cruz, Arcelia Ramírez and Michelle González.
Us Kids is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Kim A. Snyder, following members of the March for Our Lives movement after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
Summer of Soul is a 2021 American independent documentary film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. by Searchlight Pictures on June 25, 2021, before expanding and being released for streaming on Hulu the next weekend.
A House Made of Splinters is a 2022 documentary film by the Danish film director Simon Lereng Wilmont, created with the support of the State Agency of Ukraine for Film Affairs. An international co-production with Denmark, Ukraine, Sweden and Finland, it follows the story of children from a special orphanage in eastern Ukraine.
Tango Productions, LLC, doing business as Tango Entertainment, is an American film production company founded in 2017 by Lia Buman and Tim Headington. The company is best known for producing films Little Woods (2018) The Old Man & the Gun (2018), Skate Kitchen (2019), Little Fish (2020), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), Resurrection (2022), and Aftersun (2022).
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