Jesse Owens biopic sprints away from troubled Hollywood studio
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Version 0 of 1. The makers of a forthcoming biopic of celebrated athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, have managed to extricate the project from struggling Hollywood “mini-major” studio Relativity Media as it slides towards near-certain bankruptcy. According to Variety, producers of the film – which is due to star The Hurt Locker’s Anthony Mackie and begin shooting later this year – successfully cancelled ongoing negotiations that would have seen Relativity become the film’s distributor. Had the project not been released from the negotiations, it would most likely have been caught up in drawn-out proceedings that will commence when Relativity is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday. Related: Anthony Mackie: 'There are a lot of limitations placed on young black actors' Relativity’s financial troubles have seen it swamped by debt obligations totalling $320m, with a number of heavily loss-making films – including Machine Gun Preacher and Paranoia – contributing to its difficulties. The company had been set up in 2004 by high-profile CEO Ryan Kavanaugh, who had traded on a reputation for applying new financial models to film production. However, Relativity failed to fend off its creditors and has laid off large numbers of its employees. The Jesse Owens film has not been the only project caught up in Relativity’s problems. The Zach Galifianakis/Kristen Wiig heist comedy Masterminds has had its release delayed, as has the thriller Kidnap starring Halle Berry. Relativity also has a number of films in development, including a remake of The Crow and submarine action movie Hunter Killer, which now may be sold off. |