| Variety: Artists Equity Inks Overall Theatrical Film Agreement With Sony PicturesArtists Equity, the independent studio founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale, has signed an overall theatrical feature film agreement with Sony Pictures. Under the three-year agreement, Sony will distribute the theatrical films globally, which will be developed and produced by Artists Equity. Sony will finance the films and handle all ancillaries, with Artists Equity having the option to co-finance individual projects.“Artists Equity, in the short span of its existence, has proven remarkably adept at developing and producing high quality commercial films,” said Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman. “This is not a surprise to me as I have known the two creative ‘Pros from Dover’ for many years and always admired their smarts, talent and moxie. Now that Ben and Matt and their team have set their sights firmly on the high bar of the theatrical market, Sony is lucky as hell to be partnering with them. We look forward to making a bunch of hit films together.”Artists Equity CEO Affleck added, “It’s an enormously meaningful landmark for Artists Equity to be making films for theatrical release with Sony Pictures and in particular with Tom Rothman, with whom Matt and I go back more than twenty years. Tom has both a deep and abiding love for movies and an understanding of and appreciation for how they are made. I can’t think of a better partner than Sony, which is fully in on the theatrical experience, as Artists Equity seeks to make films expressly meant to be seen in the cinema, with an audience. It’s an honor to make films for the magical dark room where we come together with strangers to project our innermost secrets onto a screen, surrendering to a story together, agreeing to share the same flickering dream. I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring movies to a global audience, with the entire expert Sony team.” |
