Relativity Media (sometimes written as RelativityMedia and Relativity) is an American film studio located in West Hollywood, California which acquires, develops, produces, and distributes films and produces television programming. It was founded in 2004 by Ryan Kavanaugh.

 

History

Investments and transactions

On January 4, 2009, Relativity Media acquired the genre label Rogue Pictures from Universal, for a $150 million.Relativity oversaw Rogue’s 2009 film offerings, which consisted of Last House On The Left, The Unborn, Come Out Fighting, and My Soul to Take, as well as more than 30 projects in development. The deal also included the Rogue film library, featuring such films as Assault On Precinct 13 and The Strangers. On August 14, 2011, it was reported that Relativity was investing in SkyLand Film & Television Cultural Development Ltd, a China-based production company, signaling new opportunities in the Chinese market. One of the first arrangements was that the movie 21 and Over was partially filmed in Dongshigu, China.On May 18, 2012, it was reported that Relativity was in talks to buy German producer-distributor Senator Entertainment.

 

On July 6, 2010, Relativity and Netflix announced a five-year-plus Pay-TV deal. The first two movies to stream on Netflix were The Fighter and Skyline 

 

On July 23, 2010 Relativity acquired the 45-person marketing and distribution staff of Starz’ Overture Films, making it a "Mini-Major".The studio distributed its first film on December 3, 2010. The Warrior's Way was directed by Sngmoo Lee and starring Jang Dong Gun, Geoffrey Rush and Kate Bosworth. On May 20, 2012, it was reported that Relativity and EuropaCorp signed a co-production and co-financing deal on two movies and Relativity will distribute in U.S. Relativity also has co-production deals with Atlas Entertainmentand Virgin Produced.

 

Executive turnover

In 2011, executives Peter Adee,Geoffrey Ammer, Steve Hutensky,Michael Joe,Bill Sutman,Brian Edwards and Joe Matukewicz all left the studio. On May 12, 2011 Elliot Capital Management hired former Relativity President Michael Joe, to watch their investment.In late May 2011, Kavanaugh began trying to sell Elliot Capital Management's stake in Relativity, but Elliot Capital Management said their stake is not for sale. as of June 1, 2011, Elliot Capital Management was only investing a small amount in to Relativity, after taking back Beverly 2, which was the vast majority of the money they had invested in the company.

 

In September 2011, Robbie Brenner was promoted from Executive Vice President, Production to President, Production.

 

Ron Burkle

On November 27, 2011 it was reported Ron Burkle loaned $200 million to Relativity for Immortals and Mirror Mirror. On January 23, 2012, Burkle purchased a large equity stake in Relativity Media from Elliot Capital Management (which was the second largest shareholder after Ryan Kavanaugh) for at least $800 million. On May 31, 2012 Relativity and Ron Burkle announced they raised $350 million in funding for films and expansion. Ron Burkle will all so join the newly created board of Relativity, along with Jason Colodne and Jason Beckman who are partners at Colbeck Capital.

 

Filmography

Distributor

• Jack Goes Boating (September 17, 2010)

• Let Me In (October 1, 2010)

• Stone (October 8, 2010)

• The Warrior's Way (Distributed by Rogue) (December 3, 2010)

• Cost of a Soul[citation needed](Distributed by Rogue) (May 20, 2011)

Title	US Release	Genre	Director	Notes	Budget	Gross
Season of the Witch	January 7, 2011	Supernatural Action	Dominic Sena	co-production with Atlas Entertainment and Distributed by Rogue	$40,000,000	$91,627,228
Take Me Home Tonight	March 4, 2011	Retro Comedy	Michael Dowse	co-production with Imagine Entertainment and Distributed by Rogue	$19,000,000	$6,923,891
Limitless	March 18, 2011	Thriller	Neil Burger	co-production with Rogue and Virgin Produced	$27 million	$161,849,455
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer	June 10, 2011	Comedy	John Schultz	co-production with Smokewood Entertainment	$20,000,000	$15,013,650
Shark Night 3D	September 2, 2011	Thriller	David R. Ellis	co-production with Sierra PicturesDistributed by Rogue	$25,000,000	$40,136,479
Machine Gun Preacher	September 23, 2011	Biographical film	Marc Forster	co-production with Virgin Produced	$30,000,000	$2,527,904
Immortals	November 11, 2011	Action fantasy	Tarsem Singh	co-production with Virgin Produced	$75,000,000	$226,904,017
Haywire	January 20, 2012	Action thriller	Steven Soderbergh		$23,000,000	$33,372,606
Act of Valor	February 24, 2012	Action	Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh	co-production with Bandito Brothers	$12,000,000	$80,419,713
Mirror Mirror	March 30, 2012	Comedy fantasy	Tarsem Singh		$85,000,000	$162,148,385
The Raven	April 27, 2012	Thriller	James McTeigue	co-production with FilmNation Entertainment.	$20,000,000	$22,479,542
House at the End of the Street	September 21, 2012	Horror	Mark Tonderai	co-production with FilmNation Entertainment.	$10,000,000	$30,829,265