By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Depp Infinitum Nihil First-Looks With IM Global
[PR] IM GLOBAL LOCKS FIRST LOOK DEAL WITH JOHNNY DEPP’S PRODUCTION COMPANY INFINITUM NIHIL
Los Angeles, CA, June 13, 2017 – Prolific independent entertainment studio IM Global has signed a first look feature film deal with Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil, it was announced today by IM Global Founder and CEO Stuart Ford. The company will be run by an executive team of Depp, Christi Dembrowski, Sam Sarkar and Stephen Deuters.
The deal was negotiated shortly before the recent Cannes Film Festival, in tandem with IM Global’s commitment to finance and co-produce Depp’s next film, RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE, one of the market’s hottest titles. Comedy drama RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE is written and will be directed by Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye). Production is set to start this summer and is being produced by Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Sinister, Midnight Special, Loving) of Automatik, and IM Global President of Production, Academy Award® winner Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) with Ford and Depp executive producing.
Announcement of the deal coincides with Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales crossing over the $600 million mark at the global box office, with north of $160 million in China alone.
Ford said: “Johnny is of course a globally-recognized superstar but, as importantly, we at IM Global love Infinitum Nihil’s idiosyncratic and taste-driven view of the movie-making world and the unique brand that Johnny, Christi and their team have developed. We’re building this relationship in order to generate great movies for the global audience with a like-minded creative partner, and with IM Global’s reputation as a company that has enjoyed frequent success greenlighting bold films outside of the confines of the major studio system I feel certain that our newly extended filmmaking partnership with Infinitum Nihil will be a fruitful one.”
IM Global’s relationship with Infinitum Nihil began last year when IM Global Television announced that it was developing a music driven television drama series about the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio based on Rick Hall’s autobiography “The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame,” with Infinitum Nihil as producers along with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced.
After shooting RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE for IM Global, Depp will reprise his role as the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel. He next stars in the crime thrillerLabyrinth, for Open Road, as a detective who investigates the Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. murders, and follows this up with Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express, directed by Kenneth Branagh and joined by Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Pena.
The IM Global first-look feature film deal was negotiated by Shapiro and Deborah Zipser, General Counsel, on behalf of IM Global, and by CAA on behalf of Depp. CAA is also handling the domestic distribution rights to RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE.
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ABOUT IM GLOBAL
IM GLOBAL was founded by Chief Executive Officer Stuart Ford in 2007. The prolific independent studio operates one of the world’s leading international film, television and music production, sales and distribution platforms, controlling a library of more than 600 films which have collectively grossed more than $6 billion in worldwide box office. The company has financed or produced over thirty Hollywood feature films deploying more than $500 million in production capital, establishing itself as one of the most prolific film financiers outside of the major studios. IM Global has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Munich, Mumbai, Mexico City, Beijing and Shanghai.
ABOUT TANG MEDIA PARTNERS
Tang Media Partners is a next generation global content creation, development, financing and production company with an emphasis on forging connections between China and international markets across all media platforms through subsidiaries IM Global (Hacksaw Ridge, The Mermaid, Breakup Buddies) and partners such as Chinese tech giant, Tencent Holdings. Tang Media Partners is also behind such box-office hits as STX Entertainment’s Bad Moms and the critically acclaimed The Edge of Seventeen. Tang Media Partners is a content company devoted to developing expansive franchises for globally recognized intellectual properties across the entertainment landscape. TMP’s newly acquired Chaotic Good Studios are the creators of the premium analytic tool, Fanalytics, and the Chaotic Good Franchise Lab, a writer’s program focused on the creation of original multi-platform franchises across film, television, gaming and digital. Tang Media Partners was founded in 2015 by Donald Tang, former Bear Stearns & Co. Vice Chairman and Chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns Asia, Ltd., and is based in Los Angeles and Shanghai.