LA Screenings was once seen as an annual pilgrimage to the home of entertainment for international buyers, with execs jetting into LAX to take their pick of the best American shows under the Californian sun. But with US studios taking most shows for themselves plus changing viewing tastes at home, has it now become just another market? Rewind […]
Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have partnered with Sony for TV shows based on the studios’ video games, with its Horizon franchise the latest set for adaptation. Revealed during a Sony Pictures Entertainment investor briefing yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that a series based around the Playstation games Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West is […]
Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced that it is folding anime streamer Funimation into Crunchyroll. Sony acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T in August 2021 in a deal valued at US$1.175 billion. The announcement delivers on Sony’s promise to merge the two anime SVODs into one single subscription, with the company saying that pricing will remain unchanged. In addition […]
Sony’s Funimation group has completed its $1.175bn acquisition of AT&T’s global anime streaming service Crunchyroll, bringing the two competing services under the same roof. The agreement was first announced in December 2020 and had been awaiting regulatory approval. The deal includes streaming rights to more than 1,000 anime titles and while the two companies will […]
Disney has struck a vast multi-year deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) that will see the Mouse House gaining US streaming and linear rights to movie franchises such as Spider-Man. Theatrical releases from 2022-26 are all covered by the arrangement, with Disney gaining access to IP once it has had an exclusive run on streaming rival […]
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has appointed former Disney Television president Ravi Ahuja as chairman of its global TV studios. Ahuja will take up the remit previously held by Mike Hopkins, who joined Amazon Studios last year, with oversight of Sony Pictures Television (SPT)’s domestic and international productions. He will also look after SPT’s gameshow franchises […]
Former Gaumont distribution chief Vanessa Shapiro has launched her own production and distribution company, Nicely Entertainment. Shapiro will serve as CEO at LA-based Nicely, which was formed in January and aims to bring “quality series and movies” to global audiences and markets around the world. She was appointed as Gaumont’s president of worldwide TV distribution […]
Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is moving into kids TV production for the first time after striking a $195m deal to buy Octonauts and Peter Rabbit prodco Silvergate Media. SPT is buying the UK and New York-based company from its management team and Shamrock Capital, an LA-based investment firm that took a 51% star in the […]
Sony Corp has reported a 30% rise in profits at its Sony Pictures Entertainment division to $489m for its 2018 financial year. The rise in profits came despite a fall in revenue at SPE, which dropped slightly from $9.13bn in the previous financial year, to $8.87bn in the year to March 2019. The company said […]
Apple has appointed Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Tamara Hunter to head up casting for its growing entertainment business. Hunter, who spent two years at Sony, will oversee film and TV projects for Apple. She will report to Sony Pictures Television alum Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht. The casting chief has worked on major Hollywood hits […]
