Millennium Media, producer of the upcoming Red Sonja fantasy actioner and such franchises as The Expendables, Has Fallen and The Hitman’s Bodyguard, has signed a three-year movie slate deal with Telepool, the German film and TV distributor owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.
Under the agreement, which was announced at AFM Tuesday, Telepool and Millennium will co-develop three English-language features over the next three years, with Millennium producing and Telepool acting as an executive producer. Telepool with have the exclusive first look for all rights in German-speaking territories for the resulting films.
Telepool pre-bought Millennium’s Red Sonja, a reboot of Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery Marvel comic, for German territories, and will bow Millennium’s Antonio Banderas-starrer The Enforcer in Germany this December. The Munich-based group has also handled Gerard Butler’s Has Fallen films and The Hitman’s Bodyguard movies starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek for Millennium in the region.
The Telepool deal is a first of its kind for Millennium, who have not previously collaborated with an international distributor so soon in the development process. The pact allows for Westbrook and Millennium to extend the deal past the initial three movies if both parties agree.
Millennium Media CEO Jeffrey Greenstein and Michael Muellner of Telepool negotiated the deal.
“Everyone is looking for ways to grow our existing relationship,” Millennium CEO Jeffrey Greenstein told The Hollywood Reporter. “Telepool and Westbrook have a big appetite for content, as do many of our partners, and we are always looking for more material and more IP. This opens doors to source material and IP from new channels. It’s a win-win.”
Westbrook, previously an equity investor in Telepool, took full control of the company via its Westbrook International Holdings earlier this year.
Deadline was the first to report the Telepool-Millennium deal.
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