EXCLUSIVE: Two months into their run as Warner Bros Pictures Group Co-Chairs and CEOs, Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, have hammered out a multi-year deal to handle the international distribution of MGM’s theatrical titles, commencing with Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All in November and continuing with the 2023 slate and beyond; the second title under the pact being Creed III in March.
The deal, which De Luca and Abdy worked out with MGM COO Christopher Brearton, will deliver a great deal of incremental revenue to Warner Bros. I hear the terms are three years with an option for two and encompasses the theatrical distribution of MGM titles outside of the U.S. including China. The new agreement also includes worldwide physical home entertainment distribution on all newly released MGM titles. MGM and Warner Bros. Picture Group will team on marketing/advertising, publicity, film distribution and exhibitor relations on behalf of MGM’s future slate of theatrical releases outside the North American theatrical market, with Warner Bros responsible for execution.
Previously, MGM titles were released overseas by Universal, and under the terms of the studio’s old deal, Eon’s Bond 26 will be released by Uni International, in addition to the Broccoli studio’s upcoming Orion Pictures release Till and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking during Q1 2023. After Sony distributed the majority of the Daniel Craig 007 franchise through four titles, Universal released the final one overseas with the actor, No Time to Die, which grossed $613.2M. MGM released that film stateside where it made another $160.8M for a grand global total of $774.1M.
The terms of the new Warner Bros. agreement with MGM include the foreign distribution of subsequent 007 films from Bond 27 onward.
“We are incredibly excited to be working with the team at Warner Bros. to bring MGM’s slate of future releases to international audiences. The studio’s slate of original, franchise and prestige theatrical films are a great addition to the lineup of movies that WBD is bringing to audience outside of the U.S.,” said MGM’s Brearton.
“Warner Bros. and MGM have a long and really successful history of working together, and we’re glad that our companies are back in partnership,” said De Luca and Abdy. “Our studios and executives share a commitment and passion for bringing high quality films of all genres to global audiences, so this is a win for moviegoers and the movie business overall.”
Warner Bros. International is overseen by Andrew Cripps.
Bones and All is receiving its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The pic stars Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon-Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz, and Mark Rylance. The pic, written by Dave Kajganich, and based on the novel by Camille DeAngelis, follows the first love between Maren (Taylor Russell), a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee (Timothée Chalamet), an intense and disenfranchised drifter. They meet and join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages and trap doors of Ronald Reagan’s America. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness. Guadagnino directs and produces alongside Theresa Park, Marco Morabito, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Kajganich, Lorenzo Mieli, Gabriele Moratti, Peter Spears, and Chalamet. EPs are Giovanni Corrado, Raffaella Viscardi, Moreno Zani, Marco Colombo, Jonathan Montepare. Bones and All opens wide via United Artists Releasing stateside on Nov. 23.
Warner Bros. handled domestic on the first Creed from MGM, while MGM/UAR released Creed II. Combined the first two Creed movies starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky boxer Apollo Creed, have reaped $388M at the global box office. Jordan is directing Creed III and will star alongside Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Mila Kent, Jose Benavidez, Selenis Leyva, Florian Munteanu, Tony Bellew, Jacob Duran, Patrice Harris, Ann Najjar, Thadeus J. Mixson, and Spencer Moore II. Outlier Society are also producers on Creed III, in addition to Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler, William Chartoff, David Winkler, Elizabeth Raposo, Sylvester Stallone, Jonathan Glickman, and Ryan Coogler. Creed III is written by Keenan Coogler, Zach Baylin, and Ryan Coogler. Pic’s EPs are Nicolas Stern, Zinzi Evans, Adam Rosenberg, and Sev Ohanian. Creed III opens on March 3.