(Culver City, October 20, 2009) -- Academy Award®-winning producer Graham King (The Departed) has signed a three-year, multi-film output agreement with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group, it was announced today by Peter Schlessel, President of Worldwide Affairs for the studio. Under the deal, King’s GK Films will independently develop, finance and produce a minimum of two films a year that will be marketed and distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures.

King, who is concluding a first-look deal with Warner Bros, will continue to develop previously agreed upon films with the Burbank-based studio. He will transition to the new agreement with Sony and begin to identify new projects to be developed and financed in-house by GK Films. Such projects will be handled worldwide by Sony Pictures under the provisions of their new arrangement.

“Working with Warners has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience and I cherish the support and collaboration of the whole team,” said King. “But the deal with Sony Pictures gives us guaranteed distribution for our films and the opportunity to work with a successful and respected studio that handles every type of motion picture equally well.  It is a perfect transition for us and I look forward to working closely with the entire Sony team over the next several years on our new slate of films.”

“We have long admired Graham’s consistent taste in commercial and critically acclaimed material,” said Schlessel. “As a producer, he attracts high-profile talent to top-quality and audience-pleasing projects and we couldn’t be more excited to enter into this relationship.”

Added Jeff Blake, Chairman of Worldwide Distribution and Marketing, “Graham delivers the kinds of films that excite audiences throughout the world and his projects will be a fantastic addition to our slate across all of our distribution platforms.”

King launched his independent production company GK Films in May 2007 with business partner Tim Headington. The deal was negotiated for GK Films by COO, Bahman Naraghi with Peter Schlessel.  GK Films' Julie Roach and Sony Pictures' David Steinberg were instrumental in closing the transaction.