Dutch investment group Cyrte Investments has acquired Nigel Sinclair and Guy East's LA-based Spitfire Pictures and merged it with legendary British studio Hammer to form the global entertainment company HS Media.
Sinclair and East will run HS Media with Hammer co-chief Simon Oakes. HS Media is backed by $100m in equity and will initially produce six to eight films per year.
The partners will aim for a wide range of commercial fare and potential awards contenders with a clear focus on remakes culled from the venture's library of more than 300 Spitfire and Hammer titles. Spitfire and Hammer will operate as one business with two separate brands.
HS Media will shortly announce an international sales arm to handle in-house and third party titles and East, Sinclair and Oates are setting up relationships with distributors on the Croisette.
The slate will take shape over the summer. Early projects include the thriller Possession starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, a remake of Thomas Alfredson's Swedish vampire tale Let The Right One In, the Keith Moon biography starring Mike Myers, Philip Noyce's adaptation of Moral Hazard and several documentaries.
The partners are also collaborating with such A-list Hollywood writers as Stuart Beattie, Christopher McQuarrie and Bill Broyles. HS Media will seek to acquire further libraries and harbours ambitious plans to exploit product across new media and television platforms.
Sinclair and Oakes will serve as co-chairmen and co-CEOs out of Los Angeles and London, respectively, while East is named president and chairman of the board and the sales operation.
Hammer's Marc Schipper has been appointed COO of the Group and Andy Mayson has joined as CFO and MD of international sales and distribution. Longtime Spitfire executives Tobin Armbrust and Alex Brunner will join the Group management team in Los Angeles. Armbrust will head up worldwide production and Brunner will head up US operations.
'This is a really interesting time in the history of our business with digital convergence continuing to expand, and we believe that a talent based strong content business is the right way to make it in this new world,' Sinclair said.
Cyrte Investments recently acquired Endemol for 3.5bn Euros in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mediaset and already owned an interest in Hammer, which Oates ran with Marc Schipper.
Sinclair and East will run HS Media with Hammer co-chief Simon Oakes. HS Media is backed by $100m in equity and will initially produce six to eight films per year.
The partners will aim for a wide range of commercial fare and potential awards contenders with a clear focus on remakes culled from the venture's library of more than 300 Spitfire and Hammer titles. Spitfire and Hammer will operate as one business with two separate brands.
HS Media will shortly announce an international sales arm to handle in-house and third party titles and East, Sinclair and Oates are setting up relationships with distributors on the Croisette.
The slate will take shape over the summer. Early projects include the thriller Possession starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, a remake of Thomas Alfredson's Swedish vampire tale Let The Right One In, the Keith Moon biography starring Mike Myers, Philip Noyce's adaptation of Moral Hazard and several documentaries.
The partners are also collaborating with such A-list Hollywood writers as Stuart Beattie, Christopher McQuarrie and Bill Broyles. HS Media will seek to acquire further libraries and harbours ambitious plans to exploit product across new media and television platforms.
Sinclair and Oakes will serve as co-chairmen and co-CEOs out of Los Angeles and London, respectively, while East is named president and chairman of the board and the sales operation.
Hammer's Marc Schipper has been appointed COO of the Group and Andy Mayson has joined as CFO and MD of international sales and distribution. Longtime Spitfire executives Tobin Armbrust and Alex Brunner will join the Group management team in Los Angeles. Armbrust will head up worldwide production and Brunner will head up US operations.
'This is a really interesting time in the history of our business with digital convergence continuing to expand, and we believe that a talent based strong content business is the right way to make it in this new world,' Sinclair said.
Cyrte Investments recently acquired Endemol for 3.5bn Euros in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mediaset and already owned an interest in Hammer, which Oates ran with Marc Schipper.
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