American Film Market Dailies

• View
• Edit

EXCLUSIVE MEDIA RENEWS FILM OUTPUT DEAL WITH FRONT ROW FILMED ENTERTAINMENT

Exclusive Media has renewed their film output agreement for a further four years with Hisham Al-Ghanim and Gianluca Chakra of the Middle East’s Front Row Filmed Entertainment, it was announced today by Alex Walton, Exclusive Media’s President of International Sales and Distribution.

The deal will encompass all of Exclusive Media’s new titles until 2017, and titles currently with Front Row include the company’s upcoming productions DARK PLACES starring Charlize Theron and based on Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel; A WALK AMONG THE TOMEBSTONES starring Liam Neeson; THE QUIET ONES starring Jared Harris and Sam Claflin; and THE WOMAN IN BLACK: ANGEL OF DEATH starring Jeremy Irvine and Helen McCrory; as well as the Exclusive Media’s third party titles which include Michael and Jeff Zimbalist’s PELE about the legendary soccer player and produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Seine Pictures’ Ivan Orlic, and Kim Roth, and Colin Wilson.

The deal was negotiated by Alex Walton and Akshay Mehta on behalf of Exclusive Media and Hisham Al-Ghanim and Gianluca Chakra on behalf of Front Row Filmed Entertainment.

This new deal extends the previous term of three years with Front Row recently releasing Ron Howard’s RUSH starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl and co-produced and co-financed by Exclusive Media with Cross Creek Pictures alongside producers Imagine Entertainment, Working Title and Revolution Films.  The box office cume for RUSH in the Middle East has so far reached over $1.5mm across all territories.

Other recent Exclusive Media titles Front Row has released include THE WOMAN IN BLACK, starring Daniel Radcliffe and is Britain’s most successful horror film of all time, SNITCH starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the critically acclaimed END OF WATCH  starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and Peter Weir’s THE WAY BACK starring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, and Colin Farrell.

“We have become so close over the last three years with Hisham Al-Ghanim and Gianluca Chakra and the rest of the team that they have become part of the Exclusive Media family.  They have shown us tremendous support and enthusiasm and we couldn’t be happier to continue working with our friends at Front Row,” said Alex Walton.

"We're delighted to be able to continue this amazing relationship with the Exclusive Family who have consistently delivered a diverse string of high profile projects," said Gianluca Chakra.

ABOUT EXCLUSIVE MEDIA

Exclusive Media is a vertically integrated global filmed entertainment company, founded in May 2008 with the backing of the strategic investment group Dasym Investment Strategies B.V. (formerly Cyrte Investments).  Exclusive Media develops, finances, produces, markets and distributes prestige and talent driven commercial and documentary feature films on a global basis.

Exclusive Media is run by a five member Executive Board with Nigel Sinclair as Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Guy East as Co-Chairman, Simon Oakes as Vice Chairman and President of Hammer, Marc Schipper as Chief Operating Officer, and Ron Hohauser as Chief Financial Officer.  Supporting the Executive Board in both the operational management and strategic expansion of the business is a strong team of highly skilled professionals who have a broad range of complementary experience.

Exclusive Media’s development and production activities operate through three specialist labels: UK based Hammer for genre titles, Spitfire Pictures for documentary features and the flagship label Exclusive Media for all other feature film production.  Exclusive Media also enjoys a co-development and co-production deal with Cross Creek Pictures.

Exclusive Media’s international sales & distribution division maintains a strong marketing presence and represents the group’s in-house productions plus its growing library of almost 900 titles including the recently acquired library from Icon Entertainment International.  The company also actively acquires third party feature films to further strengthen its international distribution slate.  

The company launched a US distribution company, Exclusive Releasing and holds a minority stake in Millennium Entertainment.

For further information about the company, our slate of films, library and our experienced   team please visit www.exclusivemedia.com

ABOUT FRONT ROW FILMED ENTERTAINMENT

Front Row Filmed Entertainment LLC was launched in 2003 by Gianluca Chakra under the aegis of his father Michel.

In less than three years, Front Row established itself as the leading independent film distributor starting with critically acclaimed and thought provoking titles such as Lars Von Trier's DOGVILLE, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, Michael Moore's BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, BLOODY SUNDAY and KANDAHAR among many others. Through innovative marketing strategies, the company has created a market for these films in the Middle East that previously did not exist. The young company's first biggest success then was the distribution of FAHRENHEIT 9/11 which was the first documentary ever to be released theatrically in the Middle East. Despite considerable initial resistance from local exhibitors, the title broke into the top 20 list of 2004.

Throughout these years, Front Row has established strong legs striking deals with top notch Hollywood studios including Exclusive Media Group (Hammer Films/Spitfire Pictures), HanWay Films, Protagonist Pictures, Wild Bunch, Studio Canal and many more.

Front Row also manages a vibrant home video and television business. Its film catalog encompasses over 750 independent titles, making it one of the largest in the region. In 2005, Front Row struck a long term strategic alliance with leading tycoon Kuwait National Cinema Company securing ever expanding business on the exhibition side in the Middle East. KNCC has been in the theatrical exhibition business since 1954 and currently controls 100% of the screens in Kuwait. In 2004, local area estate powerhouse Tamdeen Holdings acquired a controlling stake in KNCC prepare for expansion into other Middle Eastern Territories.

From its first roofless theater more than 55 years ago, Cinescape has risen to a technological leader in exhibition globally; the company is one of the first to have introduced a payment system for theater tickets using cell phones.

For Front Row, KNCC is a potent partner not only in the quickly growing Kuwaiti market but also in the other Middle Eastern territories. Competing distributors which control theaters in other regions of the Middle East are still required to use KNCC's Screen in Kuwait which currently represent 36% of the Middle Eastern movie business. This has begun to create a much needed balance and has already limited anti-competitive behavior.