Italian indie film companies Eagle Pictures and Leone Film Group have signed a deal to jointly release the next two installments in the Divergent series Allegiant and Ascendant, Keanu Reeves action sequel John Wick 2 and Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield. The two companies will do a 50/50 split on costs and revenues associated with the release of the four films. Eagle will also handle distribution on future Leone Film Group titles not tied into state broadcaster Rai.
DreamWorks Animation has signed a five-year strategic content deal with DHX Media, a key international player in family-oriented content. Under the pact, DreamWorks Animation and DHX will co-produce 130 episodes of original animated children’s content at DHX Studios. Content will air on DHX Television’s suite of channels and DHX will handle distribution for the content in Canada with DreamWorks Animation distributing globally. DHX has also licensed more than 1,000 half-hours of programming from DreamWorks Animation to begin broadcast next June.
DHX Media has also signed a pact with multi-platform media company AwesomenessTV, majority owned by DreamWorks Animation, to license 300 half-hours of teen content for exclusive broadcast in Canada on Family Channel. AwesomenessTV series include F2N, which releases in January 2016, anchored by DHX’s Degrassi: Next Class.
CAA has acquired boutique talent agency Peleton Entertainment, which focuses in repping reality TV producers of shows such as History’s Pawn Stars and Alone, Discovery’s Yukon Men and FYI’s Tiny House Nation. The company is led by Rob Miller, a former rep with N.S. Bienstock. Daniel Pine will join Miller at CAA with Miller in the agency’s New York office and Pine in the Los Angeles headquarters.
Sales company Bridge Independent and indie distributor-financier Ketchup Entertainment have signed a digital distribution pipeline for select titles from Bridge’s indie slate. Under the deal Ketchup will distribute 5-10 titles a year with a marketing push. Bridge Independent is headed by Straight Outta Compton producer Bill Straus.
WWE Studios and Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films have inked a pact to co-produce and co-finance a slate of films. The first film will be the action thriller Brother’s Blood with John Pogue directing. The deal expands WWE Studios’ longtime relationship with Lionsgate who have produced several films together with top WWE wrestling talent in leading roles. Under the pact, Codeblack will distribute. Codeblack and WWE will jointly handle the marketing, with WWE leveraging its popular TV shows including Monday Night Raw and SmackDown as well as digital, social media and WWE Network.
ITV Studios America has signed an overall deal with Christina Wayne and her Assembly Entertainment. Wayne and her team will relocate to ITV Studios America’s offices in New York and Los Angeles. Wayne is currently the executive producer on the Showtime comedy pilot I’m Dying Up Here, through her previous deal with Endemol Shine Studios. She is also producing nine one-hour cable dramas in active development at Cinemax, Amazon, WGN, USA, A+E and BBC America.
Sales-financing banner IM Global has signed a pact with Marza Animation Planet, the filmmaking subsidiary of video game developer Sega, and Pigmental Studios to handle sales on its forthcoming feature projects. The first films under the deal will be Household Pets along with Mean Margaret, based on the National Book Award-nominated children’s book by Tor Seidler.
beIN Media (Qatar) has signed a mega five year, 600-title output deal with Lebanon’s Italia Films (Lebanon). Italia already has development deals in place with producers such as Basil Iwanyk and his Thunder Road banner along with exclusive output deals with the Weinstein Co., Glen Basner’s FilmNation, Dreamworks and is the official sub-distributor for Disney in the Middle East and North Africa. Titles under the Italia deal include The Hateful Eight, The Commuter, A Hologram For The King, and Skiptrace.
Peter Nowalk has inked an overall deal with ABC Studios, the home of his show, How To Get Away With Murder, which Nowalk is the creator/executive producer/showrunner. Under the deal, Nowalk will continue his positions on the role and develop new projects. The three-year pact is retroactive to the beginning of the season. Previously he was a writer on Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy and a co-executive producer on Scandal.