Ben Affleck, Matt Damon’s Artists Equity strikes film deal with Sony Pictures

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity has signed an overall three-year theatrical film deal with Sony Pictures.

Under the agreement the studio will finance and handle global distribution on films developed by Artists Equity and will handle all ancillaries. Artists Equity, whose credits include Air, The Accountant 2 and Small Things Like These, will retain the option to co-finance individual projects.

The Artists Equity pipeline includes Joe Carnahan action film Rip starring Damon, Affleck, Teyana Taylor, and Scott Adkins (Netflix acquired worldwide rights); thriller Animals directed by Affleck, who stars with Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, and Kerry Washington (Netflix has US rights); and this year’s Sundance world premiere Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and LD Entertainment acquired North America), which Bill Condon directed and stars Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna.

Sony Pictures’ motion picture group CEO Tom Rothman hailed Artists Equity’s track record, adding: “This is not a surprise to me as I have known the two creative ‘Pros from Dover’ for many years and always admired their smarts, talent and moxie.”

Affleck added: “It’s an enormously meaningful landmark for Artists Equity to be making films for theatrical release with Sony Pictures and in particular with Tom Rothman, with whom Matt and I go back more than twenty years.”

Artists Equity CEO Affleck and chief content officer Damon co-founded the company alongside RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale.

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