By Trevor Bulger
[1] Courtesy of GeekForE.
Executives:
Ryan Kavanaugh Tucker Tooley Happy Walters Gregory Shamo Robbie Brenner
CEO President Co-COO Co-COO Pres., Production
Ryan Kavanaugh is both the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Relativity Media. He is a producer, and has been producer or executive producer of many of Relativity Media’s recent movies, including Out of the Furnace and The Family.
Tucker Tooley, as president of Relativity since 2007, oversees its daily operations, as well as marketing and distribution. He was also producer of We’re The Millers, released in summer 2013.
Happy Walters, since 2012, has served as Co-Chief Operating Officer for Relativity. He helps determine the direction that Relativity Media will go in future seasons and handles day-to-day operations.
Gregory Shamo oversees the corporate, business, and legal affairs of Relativity Media, as well as assisting the day-to-day operations of the company. He has helped lead several of the major deals that Relativity Media has made, including the distribution agreement they have made with Twentieth Century Fox.
Robbie Brenner, the President of Production, leads the production team in filmmaking. She has overseen a large number of the films produced by Relativity Media, and led the acquisition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon. [3]
Recent Releases:
Don Jon Official Trailer
Don Jon, directed by and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a comedy about Jon, a rather stereotypical stud who can get a different girl every weekend, and Barbara, a girl raised on Disney looking to find her Prince Charming. It focuses around their attempt to find intimacy despite their differences and the fantasies of the culture of the time. [4]
Don Jon opened on 27 September, and made a domestic gross of over $24 million, on a production budget of only $6 million, reaching #5 in the weekend box office on its opening weekend. [5]
Free Birds Official Trailer
Free Birds, directed by Jimmy Hayward and excellently premiering in the month of November, is a buddy comedy about a pair of turkeys who want nothing to do with each other, but must team up in order to change history and remove turkeys from the holiday menu. [6]
Free Birds is currently in its fourth week, having opened on 1 November. It has already grossed over $42 million out of its $55 million budget, and has remained in the Top 5 weekend box office for all three weekends. [7]
Financial Information for Relativity Media is unavailable, as it is not a publicly traded company.
The Shift:
Relativity Media has largely focused on financial backing of projects created by other groups or studios, but that is changing. The company spent months exchanging one financial backer for a full consortium of investors, and with the closure of this shift, the company is ramping up production on a large variety of coming projects as it becomes a full-fledged studio capable of releasing 10 to 15 movies per year. [8]
Among the upcoming projects is the adaptation of the memoir Not Without Hope, which will be financed, produced, and distributed by Relativity Media. Dwayne Johnson is planned to star in the film, which is based on a story of four friends who were tragically stranded at sea, struggling to survive while hoping for help to come. [9]
Another upcoming project, to be released on 6 December, is Out of the Furnace, a gritty drama produced by Scott Cooper, about a blue collar man whose brother is pulled into a crime ring. When his brother disappears, he takes matters into his own hands to find justice for his brother. [10]
Partnership with Major League Gaming:
MLG and Relativity Media have partnered to begin producing original content about professional gamers. Though professional gaming is somewhat of a niche market, it is expanding, and quite a few people follow it closely, many saying that professional gamers deserve as much respect as professional athletes. They plan to produce content to better paint a picture of these players and the audiences to non-gamers, hoping that some of these gamers may even eventually become attached to brands in the same way that many athletes today are. It has been pointed out that both companies target similar demographic audiences, with most of their products targeting men much more than women. [2]
Sources:
[1] Geek for E: Relativity Media Logo Accessed on 19 Nov 2013
[2] All Things D: MLG Partners with Relativity Media Accessed on 19 Nov 2013
[3] Relativity Media: Executive Bios Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[4] Relativity Media: Don Jon Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[5] Box Office Mojo: Don Jon Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[6] Relativity Media: Free Birds Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[7] Box Office Mojo: Free Birds Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[8] The Wrap: Robbie Brenner Interview Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[9] Variety: Dwayne Johnson Accessed on 20 Nov 2013
[10] Relativity Media: Out of the Furnace Accessed on 20 Nov 2013