In the wake of “Black Mass” and “Everest,” Cross Creek Pictures has signed a three-year co-financing, production, and distribution deal with Sony’s Columbia Pictures, it was announced Monday.
Cross Creek is the company behind such films as George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” Ron Howard’s Rush” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” the last of which was made with Sony’s Tom Rothman while he ran 20th Century Fox.
Cross Creek is one of the few successful independent entities that both develop and finance their own films, and the deal with Sony is multi-platform arrangement that calls for both sides to have the opportunity to co-finance certain films, originating in either pipeline.
“Sony Pictures already has an excellent working relationship with Cross Creek, and we are jazzed about the upcoming ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.’ We feel fortunate that Timmy and Brian were open to expanding their relationship with us,” Rothman said of Cross Creek’s Timmy Thompson and Brian Oliver. “They have incredible taste and proven success with smart, commercial movies that serve worldwide audiences, and we know that their films will be a terrific addition to our slate.”
“Tom is doing great things at Sony Pictures, remaking the slate with an eye toward global audiences. We’ve had a terrific relationship with him so far, and we know that the studio’s marketing and distribution team is the best in the business,” added Oliver. “We’re grateful for this opportunity and confident that Sony Pictures will be a terrific new home for our projects.”
Cross Creek was previously based at Universal, where it’s producing Doug Liman’s upcoming Tom Cruise movie “Mena.”