Relativity and EuropaCorp’s joint venture laying off most of its staff, insider says
Relativity Media and EuropaCorp’s film-distribution joint venture, known as RED, is laying off most of its 40-person staff, according to a person familiar with the matter, representing another blow to Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media.
The job cuts come after Relativity failed for months to financially support the operations of the Beverly Hills-based venture, said the knowledgeable person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. A Relativity spokesperson did not have an immediate comment. A EuropaCorp spokeswoman declined to comment.
Relativity emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last spring and has since suffered from a pair of big flops and struggled to raise funds. Relativity Studios President Dana Brunetti stepped down last month amid ongoing box office misfires such as “Masterminds” and “The Disappointments Room.”
The status of Kavanaugh, the high-flying co-founder of Relativity, remains unclear after reports last month that he had stepped back from his duties as chief executive.
Meanwhile, Paris-based EuropaCorp, the production company founded by French filmmaker Luc Besson, has found a new distribution and marketing partner. The company has signed a deal for Burbank-based movie studio STX Entertainment to release and market its movies for three years. Financial terms were not disclosed.
STX will market and provide theatrical distribution for upcoming U.S. releases from EuropaCorp, the companies said, including four 2017 releases, among them the big-budget comic book adaptation “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” and the Tom Hanks-Emma Watson film “The Circle.”
EuropaCorp said in a statement that it will maintain its 50% stake in what remains of RED.
The new EuropaCorp pact represents the first big film distribution deal for STX, which was founded in 2014 by movie producer Robert Simonds with ambitions of creating the next major Hollywood studio.
STX’s growing film business, led by Adam Fogelson, has so far trafficked in mid-budget movies such as the 2016 sleeper hit “Bad Moms” and the recent critical darling “Edge of Seventeen.”
EuropaCorp, meanwhile, is best known for genre movies like “Lucy” and the “Taken” series, which were released by Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, respectively. Its upcoming “Valerian” movie cost an estimated $180 million to make.
Still, EuropaCorp said STX is an ideal home for its films.
“This could not be a better fit for us,” EuropaCorp CEO Marc Shmuger said in a statement. “They bring the highest level of studio expertise to the marketing and distribution process, but they also bring an energy and nimbleness not found in a traditional major studio.”
EuropaCorp has also suffered a number of recent box office duds, including “Miss Sloane” and “Nine Lives.”
Follow Ryan Faughnder on Twitter for more entertainment business coverage: @rfaughnder
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