EXCLUSIVE: Arizona-based sales, production and finance outfit Jackrabbit Media, led by husband and wife team Jack Campbell, CEO and distribution and sales veteran, and Rebecca Campbell, COO, are celebrating the company’s third anniversary with their biggest sales slate to date.
Kurtis David Harder’s thriller Influencers, which will premiere at Fantasia in Montreal in July, is on a roster that illustrates the company’s growing production and distribution ambitions.
The in-house production is a follow-up to 2023’s Influencer, which the Campbells filmed in 2021 while at Octane Entertainment, the company they purchased from the original owner in May 2019. The sequel once again stars Cassandra Naud and shot in Bali, Canada and France last year. Jackrabbit holds worldwide rights and licensed English-speaking territories to genre platform Shudder.
Further Jackrabbit productions include survival thriller Lookout and supernatural western Ghosts Of Red Ridge (released by Well Go USA last December) that both shot last year. The company also invested in holiday romance Christmas In Mistletoe and served as executive producer.
Third-party acquisitions comprise around 80% of the sales roster and new pick-ups for Cannes include Ryan Bellgardt’s action sequel The Jurassic Games: Extinction, Mitchell Cole’s sports drama Against The Spread, John Berardo’s supernatural thriller The Mannequin, and Jake Myers’ corporate culture horror Kombucha.
These were brought to the company by Mark Padilla, the experienced industry executive and president of worldwide sales and acquisitions who joined in 2023 and who Jack Campbell says has been “a huge asset” to the company. Sydney Edwards recently joined as sales and marketing coordinator, acquisitions, supporting global sales, packaging, and market preparation.
Jackrabbit holds worldwide rights to The Mannequin and Kombucha and will distribute both in the US. Thus far films have gone straight to digital platforms followed by Blu-ray and DVD, however the Campbells are open to day-and-date theatrical and digital releases depending on the title. The company’s first release was Cannibal Mukbang in March, while animation Riki Rhino: The Bird Kingdom is scheduled to open on May 20, followed by The Jurassic Games: Extinction in June, and Lookout arrives in September.
“We’ve gone from a traditional sales company to an indie studio where we control the pipeline of content from creation to release date,” said Jack Campbell, who previously worked at Premiere Entertainment Group, Maya Entertainment, Spotlight Pictures, and ITN Distribution, and Maverick Entertainment Group.
The aim is to self-release approximately one film a month, which means acquiring an additional 10-12 titles a year. There will be overlaps, with Jackrabbit taking worldwide rights on some, and in other cases acting solely as US distributor.
“From the outset we always wanted to be transparent with our filmmakers and as we grow we’re looking for emerging filmmakers that we can partner with,” said Rebecca Campbell, who comes from a background in public company operations control, and compliance. “We believe the best way we can do that is in-house.”
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