Village Roadshow Pictures is spreading the wealth, as the company is nearing a co-financing deal with Sony Pictures, an individual familiar with the arrangement told TheWrap.
The initial slate of projects covered under the deal includes Antoine Fuqua‘s “The Equalizer” starring Denzel Washington, the “Annie” remake starring Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx, the Sacha Baron Cohen spy comedy “Grimsby” and the spooky family film “Goosebumps,” based on the popular series of books.
Village Roadshow is expected to contribute 25% to 50% of an individual Sony movie’s price tag.
Village Roadshow has been co-financing Warner Bros. movies for years and will continue to do so, as the arrangement with Sony is not exclusive.
Village Roadshow will remain based at Warner Bros., where it has a first-look deal. Led by Bruce Berman, the company co-financed such WB hits as “The Lego Movie,” “The Matrix,” the “Sherlock Holmes” series and the “Oceans” trilogy. Village Roadshow’s current deal with Warner Bros. runs through 2017.
Also read: Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Extend Partnership Through 2017
Sony has been replenishing its war chest, recently inking a $200 million slate deal with LStar Capital. The studio is also expected to land Jeff Robinov, who has been busy raising hundreds of millions in film financing since he left Warner Bros. Sony has already agreed to invest $50 million in Robinov’s new company.
Upcoming Warner Bros. titles that Village Roadshow co-financed include the Tom Cruise action movie “Edge of Tomorrow,” Clint Eastwood‘s “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper; “Mad Max: Fury Road” with Tom Hardy,” Wachowski Starship’s “Jupiter Ascending” starring Channing Tatum, the Robert Downey Jr. drama “The Judge,” Guy Ritchie’s “Knights,” Ron Howard’s “Heart of the Sea” starring Chris Hemsworth, David Yates’ “Tarzan” and New Line’s natural disaster movies “Into the Storm” and “San Andreas.”
The news was first reported by Variety.