July 24, 2003
HBO FILMS LAUNCHES THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION ARM
Partners with New Line / Fine Line in Innovative Distribution Arrangement
Dennis O’Connor Joins HBO Films as Head of HBO Films Domestic Theatrical Releasing
Cannes Winners’ AMERICAN SPLENDOR and ELEPHANT to be First Releases
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Los Angeles, CA (July 24, 2003) – HBO Films announced today the launch of the HBO Films theatrical distribution arm as it entered into an innovative distribution arrangement with New Line Cinema's specialized distribution division Fine Line Features. The deal extends the reach of HBO Films further into the theatrical arena under the HBO Films banner.
To oversee HBO Films theatrical expansion and the relationship with Fine Line Features, Home Box Office named Dennis O’Connor as head of HBO Films Domestic Theatrical Releasing.
In making the announcement, Colin Callender, president, HBO Films, said, "Over the last couple years we have had a number of movies which have been very well received at film festivals around the world. We feel we can bring HBO's unique marketing and promotional skills to help some of these movies, which rely on word of mouth, find an audience in the theatrical marketplace. Our bigger budget event movies will of course continue to be a vital part of the programming mix available exclusively to HBO subscribers." Callender continued, "This is not just another distribution deal. We brought on Dennis O'Connor to fuse HBO's in-house marketing expertise with the highly regarded New Line/Fine Line team to find new and innovative ways to connect films with their audience.
"Our experience with Fine Line working towards the August 15th release of AMERICAN SPLENDOR has been so productive that it seemed only logical to further extend this relationship. Mark Ordesky, Russell Schwartz, Steven Friedlander and Marian Koltai-Levine are a wonderful team." He added, "To guide this venture for HBO Films we have brought on board a skilled and seasoned executive in Dennis O’Connor. He combines an intimate working knowledge of the nuts and bolts of distribution with extensive hands on marketing expertise. We are thrilled to have him on board as part of the HBO Films team."
"In a short span, HBO Films has created some of the most widely praised and memorable movies on the indie scene," said Mark Ordesky, President, Fine Line Features. "We look forward to combining our strengths to provide a bold, innovative, and supportive platform for their filmmakers."
The first two HBO Films to be released under the Fine Line Features arrangement will be AMERICAN SPLENDOR, scheduled for August 15, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and awarded the International Film Critics Association Award at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT, scheduled for October 24, winner of the Palme d’Or and Best Director at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
AMERICAN SPLENDOR immerses the viewer in the life and worldview of underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar: file clerk, working-class intellectual, obsessive-compulsive collector, and creator of the seminal autobiographical comic book series "American Splendor." Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and produced by Ted Hope, the film stars Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, James Urbaniak, Judah Friedlander and Madylin Sweeten, and features Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, and Toby Radloff.
In ELEPHANT, Gus Van Sant takes us inside an American high school, working with actual high school students to create a powerful portrait of teenagers in today’s volatile world. The story unfolds on an ordinary school day, filled with class work, football, gossip and socializing. For each of the students, high school is a different experience: stimulating, friendly, traumatic, lonely, hard. Diane Keaton and Bill Robinson executive produce; Dany Wolf produces.
AMERICAN SPLENDOR and ELEPHANT follow HBO Films first successful foray into the theatrical marketplace -- the 2002 release of REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, 2002 Sundance Audience Prize winner, which grossed $6 million domestically.
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival HBO Films unveiled the launch of HBO FILMS London, a foreign sales company based in London run by Joint Managing Directors Rosa Bosch and Penny Wolf, which will handle the sale of all HBO Films in all media in the rest of the world. This latest development provides HBO Films with the capacity to release its films theatrically worldwide.
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