Splendid Pictures, the new production and sales outfit formed on the merger of Germany's Splendid Medien and LA-based Cutting Edge Entertainment, has announced its first-look deal with Maverick Films, the film production arm of Madonna's company Maverick.

Splendid will finance and produce Maverick's projects for the next year with an option to renew. Those projects include Bear Force, a pitch, which Splendid recently bought from Maverick that will be produced as a big-budget feature combining CGI and live action.

Splendid and Maverick are also producing Queen Of The Rodeo for 20th Century Fox with Dewey Nicks attached to direct. Splendid will also finance and produce Cody Banks, Pac-man Fever and Cry Dance for which they are currently in negotiations with Taylor Hackford to direct.

The deal was brokered for Splendid by Ed Labowitz at Coudert Brothers and Harrison Kordestani, vice president, business affairs, at Splendid. Maverick Films was repped by Larry Shire and Robert Strent from Grubman, Indursky & Schindler PC.

Madonna and Guy Oseary launched the newly reorganized Maverick Films in 2001 when Mark Morgan joined the company as president of production from Destination Films.