By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Annapurna Partners With Pitt-Gardner-Klein Plan B Entertainment

Posted Thursday, May 4th, 2017 - Comments Off on Annapurna Partners With Pitt-Gardner-Klein Plan B Entertainment
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[PR] PLAN B PARTNERS WITH ANNAPURNA: Adam McKay’s untitled Dick Cheney project will be the companies’ first collaboration under the new deal

Los Angeles, CA (May 4, 2017) – Plan B Entertainment, the Academy Award-winning production company behind the most recent Best Picture-winner MOONLIGHT, has signed a three-year production deal with Annapurna. Annapurna will handle marketing and distribution efforts for Plan B’s upcoming film releases and will partner on at least three films per year. Led by actor and producer Brad Pitt and co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Plan B joins Annapurna’s expanding operation, which recently launched its full-service marketing and distribution operation.

As part of the deal, Plan B’s untitled Dick Cheney biopic, will move with the company to Annapurna. The project reunites the company with THE BIG SHORT’s award-winning director and co-writer Adam McKay and stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Steve Carrell. McKay is also producer on the film alongside his Gary Sanchez partners Will Ferrell and Kevin Messick.

Over the past decade plus, Plan B has produced a diverse slate of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including MOONLIGHT, THE BIG SHORT, SELMA, TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE, THE NORMAL HEART, WORLD WAR Z, EAT PRAY LOVE, and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.

Their film, LOST CITY OF Z, is currently in release from Amazon Studios and Bleecker Street, with WAR MACHINE and OKJA forthcoming for Netflix on May 26 and June 28, respectively, and the latter debuting in competition at Cannes later this month. Plan B moves to Annapurna after a stint at New Regency, where they produced the Academy Award-nominated THE BIG SHORT. Though their pact ended in January, the company’s project AD ASTRA, directed by James Gray and starring Pitt, will stay with New Regency.

“We’re excited and honored to be working with Plan B in this new partnership. We have always admired their taste and quality of producing since we met six years ago, and we could not be more thrilled for the possibilities ahead,” said Annapurna’s Founder-CEO Megan Ellison and President of Film Chelsea Barnard.

“We are very excited to find a home with Megan and Annapurna, who are like-minded in their commitment to backing and curating passionate films and filmmakers. We look forward to working closely with Annapurna’s stellar team,” added Plan B.

This is the first such pact for Annapurna since announcing their expansion into marketing and distribution.

 ABOUT PLAN B

Founded in 2002 and headed by Brad Pitt and co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Plan B Entertainment has produced quality, award-winning film and television projects. Having established themselves with critically-acclaimed titles, including The Departed and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the company went on to produce Eat Pray Love, the Palme d’Or-winning The Tree of Life, geopolitical thriller World War Z, Academy and Golden Globe Award-winning 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight, Emmy Award-winning The Normal Heart, and the Best Picture-nominated Selma and The Big Short.

In addition to having just released James Gray’s The Lost City of Z, and starting pre-production on Gray’s next feature Ad Astra, their upcoming releases include David Michôd’s War Machine and Bong Joon Ho’s Okja for Netflix.  They are also currently in production on Felix van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy and in post on Mike White’s Brad’s Status.

 

ABOUT ANNAPURNA

Annapurna, founded by Megan Ellison, focuses on creating sophisticated, high-quality content that is critically and commercially conscious while still appealing to a diverse audience. By upholding Ellison’s vision to put filmmakers and artists first and preserve their authentic creative voices no matter the genre or medium, in 5 years, the company has garnered a total of 32 Academy Award nominations for their projects, including ZERO DARK THIRTY, JOY, THE MASTER, FOXCATCHER, and THE GRANDMASTER. Ellison is also one of only four honorees ever to receive two Best Picture nominations in the same year, with HER and AMERICAN HUSTLE, both earning nods in 2014. Currently, Annapurna is in post-production on Kathryn Bigelow’s DETROIT, which it will release as its first distribution title on August 4, 2017. The company is also in production on Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled new period film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and is developing the film adaptation of Maria Semple’s WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE, to be directed by Richard Linklater.  Annapurna’s most recent projects include Mike Mills’ 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, which was nominated for two Golden Globes and earned Mills a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination, as well as SAUSAGE PARTY, WIENER-DOG, and EVERYBODY WANTS SOME, with THE BAD BATCH set for release by Neon in 2017. Bigelow also directed and partnered with Annapurna on the animated short LAST DAYS, about illegal elephant poaching and the ivory trade.

 

 

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