Producer Eric Newman’s newly formed Grand Electric has entered into a multi-year co-venture with StudioCanal through which the new company will acquire, develop, and produce films for the European and US markets.
StudioCanal, whose recent productions include Non-Stop and the upcoming Paddington, will act as a creative partner, financier, foreign sales entity, and direct distributor in their territories for Newman’s projects.
Grand Electric will be based in Los Angeles and will continue to develop and produce genre fare for which Newman is best known.
Olivier Courson, StudioCanal chairman and CEO, said: “Eric has great taste and knows how to make quality commercial films that play to audiences throughout the world.
“We are in advanced development with Eric and Jose Padilha on Revenge and we look forward to many more films together.”
Newman left his post as the ranking production executive at Beacon Communications (Air Force One, Bring It On) in 2002 along with Beacon principals Marc Abraham and Thomas A. Bliss to form Strike Entertainment, a production and finance entity based at NBC/Universal.
In the 12 years of their partnership, films Newman produced included Zack Snyder’s re-imagining of Dawn of the Dead, Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men James Gunn’s directorial debut Slither, Andrew Niccol’s In Time, and Jose Padilha’s Robocop.
Newman’s relationship with StudioCanal began when they came in to finance and distribute The Last Exorcism, based on an original idea by Newman, which Strike produced with Eli Roth. Released domestically by Lionsgate in 2010, the $1.6m film went on to gross $70m worldwide and spawned a sequel in 2013.
Newman has recently expanded into television. He is the executive producer of the Netflix series Hemlock Grove, headed into its third season on the subscription based service. He is also the executive producer of the Netflix series Narcos which has been shooting its first season this summer in Colombia.
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