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Toronto: Upstart Outsource Media Group Acquires Mike Newell’s ‘Great Expectations’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday September 8, 2012 @ 6:44am PDTTags: Great Expectations, Mike Newell, Toronto Film Festival
Mike Fleming

Jeremy Irvine Great ExpectationsEXCLUSIVE: New funding enterprise Outsource Media Group has made itself known here at the Toronto Film Festival by acquiring North American rights to the Mike Newell-directed Great Expectations. The film, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Jeremy Irvine, and Holliday Grainger, was sold before its Gala Premiere. Partners Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley produced the film. Great Expectations premieres Tuesday at Roy Thompson Hall.

Outsource Media Group will make a deal with distributors for North America, and the financier will put up P&A for theatrical releases through a fund it intends to use to build an acquisition slate of finished films and pre-buys. In other words, a new indie buyer has entered the scene.

Related: Toronto 2012: High Optimism As Business Reshaped By Filmmaker-Driven Fare And Shifting Formats Reinvigorates Indie Biz

Helena Bonham Carter Great ExpecationsThe company is a private equity fund based in Los Angeles and New York whose financing comes from several corporate and individual investors, including the Canadian film and finance firm, 982 Media. OMG principals, who include Bradley Holmes, Harrison Kordestani and Dan Reardon, plan to. OMG seeks to acquire a mix of specialized and commercial films and put up the P&A for distributors chosen to release each film. Former Warner Bros International president Wayne Duband and former New Line Cinema marketing president Russell Schwartz are advising the new entity.

Related: First Look: Helena Bonham Carter As Miss Havisham In Newell’s ‘Great Expectations’

Newell’s Great Expectations is a retelling of the classic Charles Dickens tale of the young orphan Pip, who rises from nothing thanks to a mystery benefactor. He uses his newfound position to pursue Estella, an heiress he has loved since childhood. All of this is imperiled as the truth behind his fortune is revealed.

“With our first acquisition of Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, we have chosen a perfect film, one that sets the tone and scope for the type of films to which we are looking to provide advertising support,” said Bradley Holmes, CEO of Outsource Media Group. “For the films, it gives the financial support to the release that they deserve, and for our distribution partners, it allows them to add new and important product to their release slates. We look forward to initiating these discussions in Toronto.”

Said Wooley: “Outsource Media Group is a most welcome player to the independent distribution scene and we are very pleased they have chosen Great Expectations to be their premiere offering. “To have a new company providing significant marketing and advertising support is a great addition to the often hard-to-navigate world of independent distribution.”

Related: Toronto 2012: Mike Fleming On Fest Films With Highest Wanna-See From Buyers

The film was partially financed by Hart/Lunsford Pictures and Unison Films, which then sold the North American rights to Outsource Media Group. Hart/Lunsford Pictures is a motion picture finance group based in Louisville, Kentucky, and Unison Films is a production and distribution company based in New York. The balance of the financing came from BBC Films, the BFI Film Fund and Lipsync Productions. Hanway World Sales is handling all international sales of the film.

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Hot Trailer: ‘Great Expectations’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday August 13, 2012 @ 3:03pm PDTTags: Great Expectations, Helena Bonham Carter, Mike Newell

An international trailer for Mike Newell’s bigscreen adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations surfaced today. Screenplay is by David Nicholls. Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Jeremy Irvine, Robbie Coltrane and Jason Flemyng lead the cast of the BBC Films production which will screen next month at the Toronto … Read More »

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First Look: Helena Bonham Carter As Miss Havisham In ‘Great Expectations’

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday November 4, 2011 @ 12:11am PDTTags: BBC Films, Great Expectations, Helena Bonham Carter, Lionsgate UK, Mike Newell

Here’s a first look at Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, the witchy central character in Great Expectations, Mike Newell’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel. Miss Havisham is an iconic character over here in Britain: an embittered spinster … Read More »

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Director Rowan Joffe Writing ‘Agent Zigzag’

By TIM ADLER in London | Wednesday February 16, 2011 @ 10:11am PSTTags: Mike Newell, Movie Deals, Movies, Playtone Productions, Rowan Joffe, Tom Hanks

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone is developing the project based on the bestselling nonfiction book Agent Zigzag, published in the U.S. by Crown. Director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) was originally working on the script with Mark Bomback (Race to Witch Mountain) on the project, which is set up at New Line. Now Brighton Rock director Rowan Joffe is scripting it for Newell. Written by Brit journalist Ben MacIntrye, Agent Zigzag tells the true story of Eddie Chapman, a suave thief/seducer Read More »

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Who’ll Helm James Cameron’s ‘Fantastic Voyage’?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 22, 2010 @ 5:35pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Bradley Cooper, Directors, Fantastic Voyage 3D, James Cameron, Louis Leterrier, Mike Newell, Movies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies Director, Scarlett Johansson, Shane Salerno
Mike Fleming

Now that the X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 directing job went to Darren Aronofsky, The Hunger Games was gobbled up by Gary Ross and Zack Snyder got the Superman job, there are only a couple films left that have directors hot and … Read More »

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