Beginning September 1, 2013, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Tom Rothman will launch TriStar Productions. The new joint venture will augment the studio’s strong output of motion pictures and television programming, it was jointly announced today by Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment and Chairman and CEO of SPE, and Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of SPE.
Sony Pictures will provide financing for the new entity and retain all distribution rights worldwide. Rothman will serve as Chairman of TriStar Productions and have an equity interest in the venture. He will report directly to Lynton and Pascal.
TriStar Productions will have its own in-house creative production executives and strategic marketing capabilities while relying on Sony Pictures’ infrastructure. TriStar Productions will be additive to the studio’s pipeline of filmed entertainment, and is meant to be complementary to titles from Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Classics and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. The TriStar Pictures banner will also be used, as it has in the past, for other product, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. The newly formed venture will have the ability to take on outside investments as well.
The new unit is slated to produce up to four films per year, all of which will be released under the TriStar Pictures banner. Additionally, TriStar Productions will develop television long form and series programming for Sony Pictures Television.
Commenting on the announcement, Pascal said, “Tom is a rare executive who loves movies, loves filmmakers, understands how to make money and has exquisite taste. He has the perfect programming sensibility to add to our slate mix and it will be a thrill to have him as part of our team.”
Added Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, “Sony Pictures Television is in business with the best in the business and we couldn’t be more excited to have Tom join our family.”
“In the late 80s, Amy and I worked together for Dawn Steel on the old Columbia Lot in Burbank,” said Rothman. “I admired her hugely then and I admire her more now – she has a truly exceptional film mind. I have known and respected Michael just as long. Together they run a superb company, loaded with outstanding executives at every level, including Steve Mosko, with whom I share a special heritage. From working with both Fox 2000 and Searchlight for many years, I have seen how effective a diversified filmmaking strategy can be, and the opportunities today in television are obvious. As a fan of Hollywood history, I know TriStar has a noble name. I am honored that Michael and Amy would choose me to try to lead a new chapter in it and look forward to collaborating with all the great people at Sony, a truly terrific studio. It feels like coming home.”
Forthcoming films from Sony Pictures include Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster from acclaimed writer-director Neill Blomkamp; The Mortal Instruments, directed by Harald Zwart from a screenplay by Jessica Postigo Paquette; One Direction: This Is Us, directed by Morgan Spurlock; Battle of the Year, directed by Benson Lee and written by Brin Hill and Chris Parker; Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the mouthwatering sequel to the 2009 hit; Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass from a screenplay by Billy Ray; Carrie, starring Chlo๏ฟฝ Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore and directed by Kimberly Peirce from a screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; American Hustle, starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence, directed by David O. Russell and written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; and The Monuments Men, starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett, and directed by Clooney from a screenplay by Clooney & Gran
