Mark Gordon is leavingStratus Film, the company he and Bob Yari co-founded in 2003, to focusexclusively on his producing career.

Under the terms of theamicable split, Gordon and Yari will remain jointly involved in existingStratus projects that are in various stages of development and pre-production.

These include The PaintedVeil starring Edward Norton andNaomi Watts, which Warner Independent Pictures will distribute domestically;and Killing Pablo for Paramountand DreamWorks, which Joe Carnahan will direct.

Brad Jenkel, who currentlyserves as executive vice president of production for Stratus, will be chargedwith the day-to-day operation of the company as he moves into an executive rolewithin the Yari Film Group.

"I want to focus on picturesthat I am producing - that is my passion," Gordon said in a statement. "I havegreat regard for Bob and believe that he will be enormously successful in allhis various enterprises.

"I am very proud of thepictures we have made and look forward to working with Bob on the next group ofpictures in the pipeline."

"Mark's shift away frommanagement is predicated on his desire to devote his time exclusively toproducing, as opposed to the daily operation of another production entity,"Yari said in a statement.

"We have had a wonderfulalliance and I look forward to continuing our working relationship with futuresuccess."

Stratus' most recent title Hostage, which stars Bruce Willis, is set to be released onMar 11 through Miramax, which recently acquired The Matador, another Stratus picture that premiered at Sundanceand stars Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

Stratus has also completed Prime starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep, which BenYounger directed for Universal (domestic) and Focus Features (international),as well as Winter Passingstarring Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, and Will Ferrell, which will be releasedlater this year through Focus Features.

Meanwhile, Gordon's currentprojects through Mark Gordon Company include HBO movie Warm Springs with Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon and UntitledCasanova Project starring HeathLedger and directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

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