FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2007
The RLJ Companies Lauches
Our Stories Films in Association with the Weinstein Company
Film Production
Company Focused in the African-American Family Comedy
Genre Capitalized at $200 Million
BETHESDA, MD (July 13, 2006) -
Privately held RLJ Companies, LLC (“RLJ”) controlled
by Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET and owner of the NBA
Charlotte Bobcats, today announced that it has entered into
a new venture with The Weinstein Company (“TWC”)
to create a film company that will produce titles in the
African-American family comedy genre. The announcement
was made jointly today by Robert L. Johnson and Bob and Harvey
Weinstein, co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company.
RLJ will launch Our
Stories Films (“Our
Stories”) shortly and the firm will be headquartered
in Los Angeles with offices in New York City. Our Stories
titles will be theatrically distributed by The Weinstein
Company’s Dimension Films and on DVD by Genius Products,
Inc. (OTCBB:GNPI). Under the agreement, TWC will have
an equity stake in the venture. Robert L. Johnson will
run Our Stories and will control the decisions to produce,
acquire and finance film projects. JP Morgan Chase
has committed to financing the venture with up to $175 million
under terms to be negotiated.
“We are thrilled to partner with
Harvey and Bob Weinstein to fulfill this vision,” stated
Robert L. Johnson, Chairman of Our Stories Films, “Never
before has an African-American had ‘green light authority’ at
a studio combined with this quality of financing and a distribution
partner that has a proven track record in successful urban
films.”
Bob and Harvey Weinstein
stated, “We
are proud to be behind this venture and are confident in
Bob Johnson’s taste and his ability to identify projects
that will be successful. We are committed to releasing a
slate of films focused in the African-American family genre
and to working with Our Stories to launch their exciting
new brand.”
John W. Miller, Managing
Director of JP Morgan Chase, stated “This is a project that is long
overdue in Hollywood and we are honored to be a part of making
it happen. We could not be more excited about working
with Bob Johnson, a partner who clearly understands the financial
realities of the film business, and what it takes to market
urban-based consumers.”
The company has begun
assembling a topflight management team to be announced
in the near future.
About The RLJ Companies
The RLJ Companies
(“RLJ”),
founded by Robert L. Johnson, founder and former CEO and
Chairman of Black Entertainment Television owns or holds
majority interests in a diverse portfolio of companies in
the financial services/asset management, real estate, hospitality,
professional sports, film production, gaming and recording
industries. An innovative business network, The RLJ Companies
seeks to target undiscovered or underserved markets, then
exercise solid management and achieve exceptional results.
RLJ is located in Bethesda, Maryland, and
currently has operations in New York and San Francisco.
About The Weinstein Company and
Dimension Films
Bob and Harvey Weinstein
launched The Weinstein Company, a multi-media company,
on October 1st, 2005. Dimension
Films, the genre label that began at Miramax, is also included
under The Weinstein Company banner.
The Weinstein Company
and Dimension Films have released the sexy psychological
thriller "Derailed," starring
Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen; "Wolf Creek," the
terrifying Australian horror film; "Hoodwinked," a
tremendously successful CGI animated family film; "Lucky
Number Slevin," starring Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett,
Lucy Liu, and Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, and Sir
Ben Kingsley; "Scary Movie 4," the record breaking
latest installment in the hugely successful and hilarious
horror-parody series, "The Matador," starring
Pierce Brosnan; "Transamerica," starring Golden
Globe winner Felicity Huffman; and "Mrs. Henderson Presents," starring
Academy Award winner Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins.
Upcoming releases
from TWC include "Clerks
II," a new film from Kevin Smith; "Breaking & Entering," written
and directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Jude Law,
Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn and Vera Farmiga; "Factory
Girl," starring Sienna Miller; "Bobby," the
highly anticipated film from Emilio Estevez that stars an
incredible ensemble cast; and "Killshot," a film
from Academy Award winning director John Madden starring
Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson.
In 1994, Bob Weinstein
founded Dimension Films, a film label committed to producing
highly commercial science fiction, thriller, action, urban,
and horror genre films. The company's successful slate of releases include
the "Scary Movie" franchise, Wes Craven's "Scream" trilogy,
Robert Rodriguez's “Spy Kids” trilogy, "Bad
Santa," "Halloween: H2O," "The Crow," Robert
Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's "From Dusk Till Dawn,” Wes
Craven’s “Cursed,” and Robert Rodriguez’s “Sin
City” franchise.
Upcoming films from
Dimension include "Pulse," a
remake of a Japanese horror film starring Kristen Bell and
Ian Somerhalder; “School for Scoundrels,” a comedy
from director Todd Phillips (“Old School”) starring
Jon Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) and Billy Bob
Thornton (“Bad Santa,” “Monster’s
Ball”); “Black Christmas” a remake of the
1970’s cult horror classic of the same name, which
stars Michelle Trachtenberg, Lacey Chabert Oliver Hudson,
and Mary Elizabeth Winstead; “Superhero Movie” a
spoof on the latest trend of comic-book inspired films from
director David Zucker; a big screen adaptation of “Welcome
Back, Kotter,” starring Ice Cube; and "Sin City
2," the second installment in the franchise based on
the electrifying graphic novels from Frank Miller, which
will be co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Miller.
About JP Morgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm
with assets of $1.3 trillion and operations in more than
50 countries.
Under the JPMorgan and Chase brands, the
firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and
many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional
and government clients.
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