Village Roadshow Pictures

Village Roadshow Pictures is an American film production company founded in 1989. It is a division of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is majority-owned by Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors, with the Australian company Village Roadshow holding a 3% minority stake.

The company has produced films, including as co-productions with Warner Bros., such as ''The Matrix'' series, ''Ocean's'' series, '' The Lego Movie'', '' Happy Feet'', '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', ''American Sniper'', ''Sherlock Holmes'', '' Cats & Dogs'', and '' Joker''. The films in the Village Roadshow library have achieved 34 No. 1 U.S. box office openings and won 19 Academy Awards (from 50 nominations) and six Golden Globe Awards.

Village Roadshow Pictures self-distributes its filmed entertainment through affiliates in several territories around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore (the latter through Golden Village). JPMorgan Chase and Rabobank also provide funding for the company's film slate with Warner Bros. Village Roadshow Pictures had a second slate co-financing agreement with Sony Pictures, which ended in 2016. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2025.

History

Village Roadshow Pictures was founded in 1989 by Greg Coote, who served as president, when it purchased certain assets of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. The company’s first film was '' The Delinquents'' and its first hit was ''Fortress'' in 1992. In 1993, Village Roadshow Pictures expanded into television production with the launch of its first television series '' Paradise Beach''.

In 1995, Village Roadshow Pictures launched a television division headed by Jeffrey Hayes. Also that year, the company started an international sales division called Village Roadshow Pictures International, which was led by Bobby Myers. In 1996, Village Roadshow Pictures Television and Yoram Gross formed a joint venture focused on animation.

In April 1997, Village Roadshow Pictures and Intermedia formed a joint venture called Village Intermedia Pictures. The deal ended several months later when Village Roadshow Pictures and Intermedia decided to cut ties and became independent again. In September 1997, the company underwent restructuring with Michael Lake joined the company as managing director. In October 1997, Yoram Gross-Village Roadshow signed a co-production alliance with EM.TV & Merchandising a Munich-based distribution and merchandising company to partner on 10 animated series over the next five years.

In December 1997, Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Bros. signed an agreement to co-finance and distribute at least 20 movies over the next five years. Under the deal, Village Roadshow would produce the films and Warner Bros. would market and release them worldwide, except in Australia and New Zealand. Bruce Berman, the former Warners’ theatrical production president, signed on as chairman and CEO of the company.

In 1998, Village Roadshow Pictures announced that it would sell its television division in a management buyout to Greg Coote and Jeffrey Hayes, who renamed Village Roadshow Pictures Television to Coote/Hayes Productions. Around the same time, the company announced it was shutting down the international sales unit. As part of its exit plan from the sales business, Roadshow sold international rights to its Western productions to Icon Entertainment International and the Australian films to Beyond Films Limited. Also that year, Village Roadshow Pictures sold off its 50% stake in the Yoram Gross animated studio venture to EM.TV & Merchandising, which would become Yoram Gross-EM.TV.

In 2006, through a group led by Act III Communications, Norman Lear and his partner Hal Gaba purchased 50% of Village Roadshow Pictures (VRP). Their entity, Crescent Film Group, included long-time colleague Michael Lambert through Lambert Media Group and Clarity Partners as investors. Crescent invested $115 million for its interest in VRP. Village Roadshow Pictures used the $115 million invested by Crescent to repay an inter-company loan of $100 million owed to its parent company, as well as pay a $15 million dividend to the existing VRP shareholders and management.

In 2008, Concord Music Group merged into Village Roadshow Pictures to form Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG). Investors in VREG included the shareholders of Crescent, as shown above, as well as Australia's Village Roadshow Limited and Tailwind Capital.

In 2012, Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures extended their co-financing first look deal through 2017. In May 2014, VRPG established a supplementary co-financing production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment which commenced with the release of '' The Equalizer'' and '' Annie''. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available capital. In 2013, Concord Music Group was sold to Wood Creek Capital, an affiliate of MassMutual, for approximately $120 million.

In 2015, VREG, the holding company of Village Roadshow Pictures and Village Roadshow Television, was recapitalized with a $480 million investment that included funds from Falcon Investment Advisors and Vine Alternative Investments. Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors added additional capital in April 2017 to take a controlling stake in the company. This was to fund a new strategic plan for an expanded film slate and add production of television programs and other content offerings.

More recently, Phantom Four Films signed a first look deal with Village Roadshow Pictures. On September 27, 2021, Bruce Berman announced that he would step down as CEO of the company. On December 14, 2021, the company had signed a pact with Fox Entertainment to distribute pictures for Tubi and partnered with Kevin Garrett to launch Black Noir Cinema.

In March 2025, the Village Roadshow Entertainment Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing an overly ambitious studio expansion, staff layoffs, and an ongoing arbitration dispute with Warner Bros. for breach of contract over the simultaneous release of '' The Matrix Resurrections''. The former Australian parent company had to issue press statements stating it has had no control over the company since 2017, and has since commenced action to revoke VREG of the right to use the company's name and logo. Around the time bankruptcy was filed, Content Partners had reportedly placed a stalking horse offer of $353-365 million for the assets of VREG. However, in April 2025, Alcon Entertainment outbid Content Partners with a higher offer of $416.5 million, with the company being approved as the new stalking horse bid by Delaware bankruptcy judge Thomas Horan, who also set a deadline of May 16 for other interested bidders, if any, and a May 20 auction date if more than one party showed up. VREG was to file notice within a day of the bidding deadline whether it would prefer holding an auction for its assets or sell them directly to Alcon, with Horan scheduling the hearing date for the transaction's approval for June 11.

Filmography

Feature films

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Upcoming

Television series

Television films

Television miniseries

Notes

References

External links

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{{Film Studio

1989 establishments in California
American companies established in 1989
Mass media companies established in 1989
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies based in Los Angeles
Entertainment companies based in California
Film production companies of the United States
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025