Spyglass inks Svensk as leg of o'seas alliances
Team uniting on Willis pic
Svensk, which takes a small equity stake in the Disney-based production/distribution company, will form what amounts to an output deal with Spyglass.
The Scandinavian firm will contribute a small portion of production costs for the company, but its investment will be more heavily skewed toward its equity position.
Figures were not released on the financial commitment for Svensk, but sources said the revenue that will be generated from the deal is anticipated to be roughly 2.5% to 3% share of worldwide box office that Scandinavia usually provides.
The deal will run over the next five years and cover 15 to 25 feature pics from Spyglass. Svensk joins Kirch Group's Taurus Film and Mediaset as well as Disney as investors in the startup firm, which is run by co-chairmen and CEOs Barber and Birnbaum.
Spyglass has already set up a guaranteed $250 million in production financing from Kirch. The goal, Barber said, is to raise as much as $1 billion in financing to cover negative costs over the first five years.
Disney, which splits the budgets on feature films with Spyglass, will distribute Spyglass pics in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and Latin America. Spyglass is setting up equity partners and output deals in the other outstanding territories. The company plans to announce another major European deal and an Asian agreement in the next few weeks.
"We are extremely proud to have Svensk Filmindustri as a partner in Spyglass," Barber and Birnbaum said in a statement. "As the leading entertainment company in the Nordic countries, Svensk is perfectly positioned to distribute all Spyglass films over the next five years."
Svensk chairman Torsten Larsson has worked with Barber over the last 12 years when Barber was running Morgan Creek with James Robinson.
"I'm sure that our new management team at Svensk with Jan Edholm as president and CEO and Rasmus Ramstad as executive vice president will maximize the revenue of Spyglass Entertainment films," Larsson said.
The first pic for Svensk and the other partners will be the Bruce Willis starrer "The Sixth Sense" under M. Night Shymalan's direction; it's produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Barry Mendel.
