Baldwin assigns directors

Omega taps Rogers as president

By DAVE MCNARY

Baldwin Entertainment Group has signed directors to four features -- Chuck Russell on action-adventure "Mandrake," based on the Hearst comic; Deepa Mehta on eco-drama "Luna"; Joel Schumacher on actioner "1:30 Train" and Peter Cattaneo on romantic comedy "Indiscretion."

The shingle made the announcement as part of disclosing that Swiss-based Omega Entertainment has agreed to a multi-picture financing deal with Baldwin Entertainment, initially covering the quartet of projects.

Year-old Omega also has tapped former Lakeshore International president Peter Rogers as its president. He'll head up the company's new London office and oversee all international operations, including debuting the Baldwin slate at Cannes with Omega exec VP Solvej Malis.

Omega said the moves, announced Tuesday, represent its transition from financier of small- to mid-sized pictures and pan-European rights trader into a global financing, production and sales outfit. It's aiming to finance and distribute up to 10 films annually with budgets from $10 million to $60 million.

Omega founder Markus Barmettler said Rogers has extensive experience in distribution and production, which includes seven years in the Lakeshore slot. "We will be able to build Omega into a premier international media company within a short period of time," he added.

Three-year-old Baldwin Entertainment is owned by Howard and Karen Baldwin, whose producing credits include "Ray", "Sahara" and "Swimming Upstream." The company is in post on "Death Sentence," starring Kevin Bacon and directed by James Wan, and is developing "Teacher Man," "Atlas Shrugged" and a Jackie Robinson-Branch Rickey biopic.