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Cannes: Oscar Isaac To Star As Pablo Escobar In Relativity Pic Helmed By Brad Furman

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 4:44pm PDTTags: Brad Furman, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Oscar Isaac, Pablo Escobar, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Brad Furman will finally get behind the camera on a feature film about Colombian drug cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. The Lincoln Lawyer director has long sought a way into a biopic of Escobar and now has Inside Llewyn Davis star Oscar Isaac aboard for the lead role, which is based on the Black List script by Matt Aldrich. Isaac will be in a lot of conversations before and after that Coen brothers pic comes out December 6. Relativity Media is the distributor and will sell the project in Cannes. Raging Bull Entertainment’s Joseph Khouri and Joe Isgro will produce with Scott Pictures’ Scott Steindorff, Film 360′s Scott Lambert, Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley. Scott Lastaiti and Dylan Russell are exec producing. Filming begins in September in Colombia. Steindorff is producing and funding Jane Got Gun, the pic that finally came together with a final piece of casting in Ewan McGregor, who stars with Natalie Portman, Noah Emmerich and Joel Edgerton. The pic is near the end of production under helmer Gavin O’Connor.

Isaac is repped by UTA and Inspire Entertainment, Furman by CAA and Aldrich by CAA and Jewerl Ross.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ‘Don Jon’ Gets October Release Date

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 4:06pm PDTTags: Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Relativity Media

Relativity Media has set an October 18th release date for Don Jon (formerly Don Jon’s Addiction). Gordon-Levitt stars in the R-rated comedy which also marks his writing/directing debut. The film humorously explores the obstacles to honest … Read More »

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Mogul Meme: Relativity Responds To Variety

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 12:33pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Relativity Media, Ryan Kavanaugh

Variety normally delivers between 3-6 copies of its print edition to Relativity Media. On Tuesday morning the trade hand-delivered 50 copies of the weekly with its “Debt Of A Salesman” cover story about the company to Relativity’s offices. Immediately Relativity insiders criticized the move to me as ”a desperate move for attention” for ”a highly speculative story with an uninformed premise”. Hey, this is progress. The last time a media outlet wrote about Relativity in any depth — Ron Burkle Talks Ryan Kavanaugh To The New Yorker — Relativity’s lawyer demanded the article’s retraction and removal from the website. I’m told no legal letter went out this time around — just company spin. Is this a kinder gentler Ryan Kavanaugh under investor Ron Burkle’s tutelage? Well, a less confrontational CEO trying to stay out of the press.

That said, here is Relativity’s on-the-record statement from a company spokesperson to me about Variety’s published gaze into a crystal ball speculating about Relativity’s debt repayment prospects over the next 5-7 years: “Variety invented a fundamentally flawed thesis and then tried as hard as they could to prove it. Unfortunately the best that they could come up with over four pages was one generic quote from a banking analyst and a silly attempt to predict the unpredictable — what may or may not happen in 2018.”

Off the record, a source close to Relativity complains: “Variety bases its piece on $100M of debt that Relativity has to repay over 5-7 years. Has Variety ever heard of refinancing? They don’t understand corporate finance. Most highly successful companies use debt financing as part of their growth strategy. And the only on-the-record quote in a four-page story is from a mid-tier analyst from RBC Capital. Is this the new, harder-hitting Variety? If so, they’ve failed miserably.” Read More »

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Relativity Media Acquires ‘House Arrest’ Spec

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 9, 2013 @ 9:02am PDTTags: House Arrest, Justin Adler, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Relativity Media has acquired House Arrest, a spec script by Justin Adler about two high-end bond traders whose plan to end their marriage hits a snag when they are forced to live together for six months … Read More »

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Relativity Media Acquires ‘Scare Me,’ Sets Wentworth Miller To Adapt Novel

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday March 22, 2013 @ 1:20pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Prison Break, Relativity Media, ScareMe, Stoker, Wentworth Miller
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Relativity Media has acquired Scare Me, a psychological thriller novel, and is setting Wentworth Miller to write the script. Miller is the actor who starred in the Fox series Prison Break who made his screenwriting debut … Read More »

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Relativity Media Taps Sheldon Turner To Script And Maybe Direct ‘Borderland’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 12, 2013 @ 12:29pm PDTTags: Borderland, Jennifer Klein, Relativity Media, Sheldon Turner
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Relativity Media has acquired Borderland, a gritty action thriller that Sheldon Turner will write with an eye toward directing. The tone is modern-day Western meets Magnificent Seven; when a resort town is overrun by cartel violence, a newly installed mayor hires a band of ex and current Special Forces operatives to train them to fight back. The border town becomes a battleground and the operatives get in over their heads. The intention is to give an authentic depiction of post-war life for elite soldiers. Jennifer Klein will produce through Vendetta, the production shingle she and Turner set up together.

Turner, Oscar-nominated for co-writing Up In The Air, will work on this as he finalizes plans to make his feature directing debut on Two Minutes To Midnight, a script of his that had originally been set at Fox but which Klein and Turner got back in turnaround. Turner is also attached to helm By Virtue Fall, which is set at QED and has Armie Hammer and Eric Bana attached. Klein is producing both of those pictures as well as Everest, the Turner-scripted film that Doug Liman will direct at Sony with Tom Hardy attached to play George Mallory. Liman’s Hypnotic partner Dave Bartis is also producing and it will be Liman’s next film. Read More »

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Relativity Media Takes On Pablo Escobar Story

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 5, 2013 @ 12:22pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Enrique Urbizu, Pablo Escobar, Relativity Media, Silver Or Lead
Mike Fleming

Pablo EscobarBREAKING: Relativity Media acquired Silver Or Lead, a script that tells the story behind the manhunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Relativity will produce the film with Atmosphere Entertainment MM. Enrique Urbizu, whose gritty crime thriller … Read More »

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Relativity Media Signs Mikael Hafstrom For ‘Tunnels’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 6:37am PSTTags: Mikael Hafstrom, Relativity Media, Tunnels
Mike Fleming

The Tomb helmer Mikael Hafstrom is now focusing on Tunnels, the fantasy adventure book series acquired by Relativity Media. The script by Andrew Lobel is based on the adapted screenplay originally written by Joel Bergvall & Simon Sandquist. Tunnels is the film adaptation of the first installment of the novel series from Scholastic/Chicken House publishing, by authors Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, which has sold more than 1 million copies and has been published in nearly 40 countries worldwide.

The authors have already completed five sequels with the sixth and final book in the series, Terminal, will be published in the U.S. in the fall. The property was unearthed by Barry Cunningham, the man credited with discovering Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling and whose boutique Chicken House imprint is part of Scholastic. Beneath the streets of London, two teenage boys discover an incredible, hidden underground world where a secret civilization has been desperately waiting for a hero to save them all. The deeper they go, the closer they get to unearthing an evil that could destroy the world above and put an end to the lives they once lived. Read More »

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Relativity & Reel FX Move ‘Turkeys’ Earlier

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 22, 2013 @ 3:31pm PSTTags: Reel FX, Relativity Media, Turkeys

Relativity Media and Reel FX have moved the release date for the animated comedy Turkeys just over a year earlier to November 1, 2013 from November 14, 2014. Turkeys for the moment shares its new date with Lionsgate-Summit’s Ender’s … Read More »

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Relativity Media On For ‘Brick Mansions,’ The ‘Banlieue 13′ Remake With Paul Walker

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 13, 2013 @ 9:41am PSTTags: Luc Besson, Paul Walker, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Furthering its commitment to co-finance action films from Luc Besson‘s EuropaCorp, Relativity Media has signed on to co-finance and be domestic distributor for Brick Mansions, the American-ized remake of the Paris-set Banlieue 13. The film will star Paul Walker, and it will be directed by Camille Delamarre, a protege of Besson. Besson, who co-wrote the original, scripted the remake with his Taken collaborator Robert Mark Kamen. Walker will star with David Belle, who starred in the original and the sequel District 13: Ultimatum. He is also the guy credited with creating Parkour, a sport that involves agility and leaping and climbing around obstacles. There will be plenty of that in these films. Read More »

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Jim Carrey Joins ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Helmer For ‘Loomis Fargo’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 7:54am PSTTags: Jim Carrey, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

Didn’t see this announcement in my inbox yesterday, but it is worth noting. Relativity Media acquired worldwide rights to finance, produce and distribute Loomis Fargo, an action heist comedy that will star Jim Carrey. It’s directed by … Read More »

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Sundance Deal Precedent: Relativity Media Pact For Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Helmed Comedy ‘Don Jon’s Addiction’: $4 Mill Upfront, $25 Million P&A For Summer Release

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday January 21, 2013 @ 11:33am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Don Jon's Addiction, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Relativity Media, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Wrap-Up
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Relativity Media has confirmed the Don Jon’s Addiction deal, and I’ll run the announcement below the original break of the story. In terms of the precedent-setting amount, other buyers have helpfully reminded me of Sundance films like Happy Texas, Hustle & Flow, and The Spitfire Grill. There was also a rather large P&A commitment that went for the wide release genre film Splice. Several of those didn’t work out well and Relativity will have to gross $35 million or more on this film to make the numbers work here, but it’s a bold statement-making play, and maybe it will pay off.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline told you first that Relativity Media had placed a bid that was blowing everybody out of the water on Don Jon’s Addiction, the directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt that has had brisk buyer interest since it premiered. I’m hearing that Relativity Media is wrapping up what will be an historic, precedent-setting deal for a Sundance film, harkening to the days when distributors spent big big bucks here. Word I’m hearing is they are paying the $4 million minimum guarantee I’ve mentioned before, but that there is a whopping $25 million P&A for a summer release on 2000 screens. Yowza! That meets or surpasses marks for a biggest Sundance (non-genre film) total deal — and biggest domestic deal because this is not for the world. It is for U.S. only. I’m sure if that’s awry, my commenters will tell me and we’ll set the record straight if this didn’t beat the record.

Related: Sundance Q&A: Joseph Gordon-Levitt On His ‘Don Jon’s Addiction’ Read More »

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Relativity Creates Foreign Sales Division

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 19, 2012 @ 5:28pm PSTTags: Relativity Media

Relativity Media has created an international sales and distribution division, Relativity Foreign. Camela Galano has been named president, reporting to Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh and President Tucker Tooley. Relativity Foreign will handle the company’s own titles and third party releases. Galano … Read More »

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Relativity Media Promotes Andrew Marcus To COO, RelativityREAL

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday December 18, 2012 @ 4:23pm PSTTags: Relativity Media

Andrew Marcus has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Relativity Media’s television arm RelativityREAL. He was previously President of Corporate Development & Strategy for Relativity Media. In his new role, Marcus will focus on expanding RelativityREAL’s international … Read More »

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‘True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld Lands Lead In Kevin Costner’s Relativity Media Thriller

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 29, 2012 @ 8:25am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Hailee Steinfeld, Kevin Costner, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Hailee Steinfeld, who burst on the scene with an Oscar-nominated turn in True Grit, has landed the lead role opposite Kevin Costner in the untitled action film that McG will direct for Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and Relativity Media. Scripted by Besson and Adi Hasak under the title Three Days To Kill, the film stars Costner as a Service agent who discovers he’s dying. Before he goes, he attempts to complete a final mission, and reconnect with his estranged daughter. He’s also taking an experimental drug that could prolong his life, and that adds complexity to the ticking clock because of the drug’s hallucinatory side effects. Besson and Virginie Besson-Silla are producing with Hasak and Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh. Tucker Tooley’s exec producer. Read More »

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Relativity Media, Casey Affleck At Bat For Slugger Josh Hamilton Biopic

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 15, 2012 @ 10:52am PSTTags: Casey Affleck, Josh Hamilton, Relativity Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: After clubbing 43 homers including nine in the span of one week, Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton ended his 2012 season as a free agent. The same can no longer be said for his incredible life story, which has been acquired and will be turned into a feature film by Relativity Media. Relativity has closed a rights deal with Hamilton, along with a deal for Casey Affleck to write and direct. Thunder Road Pictures’ Basil Iwanyk will produce along with The Walsh Company’s Kevin Walsh. Thunder Road’s Kent Kubena will executive produce and Hamilton and his wife Katie will co-produce along with Hamilton’s business manager Steve Reed. Relativity has also closed a deal for rights to the book that Hamilton co-authored, Beyond Belief: Finding The Strength To Come Back.

Back in June, I wrote about this feature package that Iwanyk and Affleck were trying to build around Hamilton. I am a sucker for those inspirational sports films from The Blind Side to The Rookie and Brian’s Song and there is certainly one to be made about rising from the depths of addiction. While the landscape is littered with addiction casualties from Whitney Houston on down, Hamilton reminds me of a number of exceptional people like Robert Downey Jr, who after wrestling their demons have accomplished the admirable feat of realizing the potential of their outsized gifts. For Hamilton, this meant overcoming a crack cocaine addiction to become one of the most feared sluggers in baseball, something that seemed impossible when Hamilton was so rock bottom that his wife kicked him out of the house, and he was relegated to cleaning toilets and mowing the grass at a baseball training facility. Read More »

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Relativity & Reel FX Team Up For Animated ‘Turkeys’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday October 24, 2012 @ 5:49pm PDTTags: Reel FX, Relativity Media, Turkeys

Relativity Media and Reel FX will jointly finance and produce the animated comedy for a 2014 release. Turkeys features two birds from opposite sides of the tracks that join forces and travel through time to get their species … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘Safe Haven’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday October 24, 2012 @ 4:07pm PDTTags: Nicholas Sparks, Relativity Media, Safe Haven

The latest from the Nicholas Sparks book-to-movie machine is Safe Haven, which stars Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel. She plays the woman with the mysterious past who arrives in a small town, he the widower who forces her to confront her dark past. Lasse Hallstrom directs. Relativity … Read More »

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Relativity Firms 2013 Release Slate

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday October 17, 2012 @ 4:30pm PDTTags: 21 And Over, Movie 43, Paranoia, Relativity Media, Safe Haven

MOVIE 43
Release: January 25, 2013

Directors: Steven Brill, Peter Farrelly, Will Graham, Steve Carr, Griffin Dunne, James Duffy, Jonathan Van Tulleken, Elizabeth Banks, Patrik Forsberg, Brett Ratner, Rusty Cundieff, James Gunn
Writers: Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellström, Jack Kukoda, Bill O’Malley, Matthew Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan Van Tulleken, Jonas Wittenmark, Ricky Blitt
Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler, Bobby Cannavale, Common, Kieran Culkin, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, John Hodgman, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Greg Kinnear, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chris Pratt, Dennis Quaid, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet (Cast listed in alphabetical order)
Producers: Charles B. Wessler, John Penotti, Peter Farrelly, Ryan Kavanaugh
Co-Producers: Kenneth Halsband, Jason Barhydt, Marc Ambrose, Tom Gormican
Executive Producer: Tim Williams, Tucker Tooley, Jason Felts
Co-Executive Producers: Rene Rigal, Brian Kornreich

SAFE HAVEN
Release: February 8, 2013

Director: Lasse Hallström
Writers: Dana Stevens, Gage Lansky
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Julianne Hough, David Lyons, Cobie Smulders
Producers: Ryan Kavanaugh, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Nicholas Sparks
Executive Producer: Tucker Tooley

21 AND OVER
Release: March 1, 2013

Directors: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Writers: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Cast: Miles Teller, Justin Chon, Skylar Astin, Sarah Wright, Francois Chau, Jonathan Keltz, Daniel Booko, Dustin Ybarra
Producer: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Ryan Kavanaugh
Executive Producer: Tucker Tooley, Jason Felts, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore, David Manpearl, Luo Yan

Read More »

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