Spyglass Media Group, LLC, formerly Spyglass Entertainment, is an American film

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

founded by

Gary Barber Gary Barber (born 1957) is a South African-born American film producer. Barber was the chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is also co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment. Biography Barber was born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg, So ...

and Roger Birnbaum in 1998.

History

Spyglass Entertainment

On August 21, 1998,

, former vice chairman and COO of Morgan Creek Productions, together with Roger Birnbaum, co-founder and former head of

Caravan Pictures Caravan Pictures, Inc. was an American film production company at Walt Disney Studios, formed by Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth. Caravan's films were distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. While Disney would sign directors and talent ...

, founded Spyglass Entertainment. The startup company signed a five-year distribution agreement with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, which took an

equity stake In finance, equity is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets. For example, if someone owns a car worth $2 ...

. Birnbaum previously left Caravan at the prompting of then Disney studio chief Joe Roth; with Disney cutting its yearly production output, Roth recommended forming a self-financing production firm similar to New Regency Productions. After Caravan's remaining three films were released, Caravan went inactive. Its slate of film projects and an initial financial advance of $10 million to $20 million against future overages were also contributed by Disney. Spyglass's operations were formed and based at the Walt Disney Studios. On October 29, 1998, European media conglomerates Kirch Group and

Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...

invested in theatrical, video and television distribution rights to between 15 and 25 films in Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and the former Soviet Union for over five years.

M. Night Shyamalan Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raise ...

's ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient ( Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released ...

'' (released 1999) was Spyglass's first film, collecting $661 million at the box office worldwide. By May 23, 2000, Disney took a 10% equity stake in Spyglass, along with Svensk Filmindustri of Scandinavia and Lusomundo of Portugal. On March 7, 2003, Spyglass Entertainment agreed to a four-year distribution output deal with

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...

for Australia, New Zealand and Greece. On August 6, 2002, Spyglass Entertainment launched a television division, and it was focused on small screen projects. One of its projects was the short-lived series ''

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

''. That same year, it attempted to merge with smaller independent distributor

Intermedia Intermedia is an art theory term coined in the mid-1960s by Fluxus artist Dick Higgins to describe various interdisciplinarity art activities that occur between genres, beginning in the 1960s. It was also used by John Brockman to refer to work ...

, but it failed. In December 2003, Spyglass ended its deal with Disney and agreed to a four-year first-look non-exclusive co-financing and production deal with DreamWorks. This deal was never finalized and the relationship was not working well. Thus on September 23, 2003, Spyglass instead made a similar deal with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

. Spyglass did not move to the Sony lot, but to Murdoch Plaza in

Westwood, Los Angeles Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...

. By March 25, 2010, Spyglass was acquired by Cerberus Capital Management. On December 20, 2010,

and Roger Birnbaum became co-chairmen and CEOs of the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

, which had at that time recently emerged from bankruptcy. The original plan had the Spyglass library being added to MGM, but it was later removed from the plan.

Spyglass Media Group

On March 13, 2019, Barber and

Lantern Entertainment Lantern Entertainment, LLC is an American independent film studio. It was formed by Lantern Capital Partners after it acquired the assets of The Weinstein Company on July 16, 2018, after the latter company's bankruptcy filing (which was a result ...

revived the company as Spyglass Media Group, bringing in Eagle Pictures and

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irel ...

as investors. Lantern made a majority investment and also transferred its film library and rights to

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a lea ...

film sequels to the Spyglass. Barber owns the Spyglass trademark and the sequel and remake rights to the old Spyglass library, which he has contributed. The company plans to produce content for all platforms. Spyglass closed the former Lantern Entertainment/TWC office in New York City while laying off 15 staff members across divisions. On April 1, 2019, Lauren Whitney, the president of television for Miramax, took on the same position for Spyglass. Damien Marin followed Barber from MGM to be appointed Spyglass president of worldwide distribution and acquisitions on September 3, 2019. On April 16, 2019, Warner Bros. bought an equity stake in Spyglass, which signed a

first-look deal A first-look deal is any contract containing a clause granting, usually for a fee or other consideration that covers a specified period of time, a pre-emption right, right of first refusal, or right of first offer (also called a right of first neg ...

with the studio. Spyglass was involved on August 1, 2019 in a potential purchase of part of Miramax but dropped out in two weeks. Spyglass's first greenlit film since its revival is a revival of the ''

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

'' franchise announced on May 6, 2019. With the company winning the rights to

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

's '' The Institute'' book in November 2019,

Jack Bender Jack Bender (born September 25, 1949) is an American television and film director, television producer and former actor best known for his work as a director on ''Lost'', ''The Sopranos'' and '' Game of Thrones''. Biography Bender grew up in ...

and David E. Kelley were paired to development and produce the book as a mini-series. Also, Bender was signed by Spyglass to a television first-look deal. MGM President of Physical Production Peter Oillataguerre was appointed President of Production for Spyglass Media Group reporting to Barber. On July 15, 2021,

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

acquired most of

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

's film library, which until then had been owned by Spyglass, with Lionsgate getting a 20% equity stake in Spyglass and Spyglass getting a first look TV deal with Lionsgate Television.

Foreign distributors

: Australia, New Zealand and Greece (2003–2007) *

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

: France, Benelux, Sweden and Poland pay TV * Sogecable: Spanish pay cable *

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

: Japan * Lusomundo: Portugal * Forum: Israel * Ster-Kinekor: South Africa * Diamond Films: Argentina * Paris Filmes: Brazil

Production filmography

As Spyglass Entertainment

1990s

2000s

2010s

As Spyglass Media Group

2020s

In development

References

External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 1998 Mass media companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in California American companies disestablished in 2012 Mass media companies disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in California American companies established in 2019 Mass media companies established in 2019 2010 mergers and acquisitions 2019 establishments in California Film production companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Warner Bros. Lantern Entertainment Lionsgate subsidiaries Re-established companies American independent film studios