RatPac Entertainment
American media company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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American media company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RatPac Entertainment, LLC is an American media and entertainment company that finances and produces motion pictures, television, documentaries, live theater, and podcasts. The company is owned by Brett Ratner and James Packer.[1]
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Motion pictures Television |
Predecessor | Rat Entertainment Dune Entertainment |
Founded | 2013 |
Founders | Brett Ratner James Packer |
Successor | Access Entertainment |
Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Brett Ratner (CEO) |
Owner | Brett Ratner Access Entertainment |
Divisions | RatPac Television RatPac Documentary Films |
Website | ratpacentertainment |
Dune Entertainment was a company founded by Steven Mnuchin in 2004.
Mnuchin founded Dune Entertainment as a side business. It financed a number of large-budget films, mostly for 20th Century Fox, including the X-Men film franchise and Avatar.[2][3][4] In 2012, after Dune's deal with 20th Century Fox ended, Mnuchin worked with the filmmaker Brett Ratner and the Australian businessman James Packer to merge his Dune Entertainment company with Ratner and Packer's newly founded RatPac Entertainment joint venture which would be formed into RatPac-Dune Entertainment in 2013; the following year.
Between 2013 and 2018, RatPac-Dune financed many films for Warner Bros., including American Sniper and Mad Max: Fury Road. Mnuchin was co-chairman of the trio's movie company, Relativity Media, but left seven months before it went bankrupt.[5]
In September 2013, RatPac partnered with Dune Entertainment on a multi-year motion picture co-financing arrangement with Warner Bros., financing over $1 billion for 75 of the studio's films[6][7]
In December 2013, RatPac signed a deal starting as of January 1, 2014 to finance films as part of a production deal between Plan B Entertainment and New Regency.[8]
RatPac Entertainment has co-financed 81 theatrically released motion pictures exceeding $17 billion in worldwide box office receipts. RatPac's co-financed films have been nominated for 59 Academy Awards, 25 Golden Globes and 43 BAFTAs and have won 25 Academy Awards, 8 Golden Globes and 24 BAFTAs.
In late 2017, Access Entertainment bought Packer's controlling stake in the company. In 2019, Georgetown, directed by Christoph Waltz, was released by Paramount Pictures.[9]
In 2021, Reddit r/wallstreetbets founder Jaime Rogozinski sold the rights to his life story to the company following the short squeeze of GameStop's stocks.[10] The documentary "The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution" directed by Ondi Timoner debuted on Netflix on January 1, 2024.[11]
Dune Entertainment was led by Steven Mnuchin and had been co-financing Fox films since 2006.[12][13][14][15] On March 17, 2006, Viacom agreed to sell a controlling interest in the DreamWorks Pictures live-action film library to Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II.[16] The sale was completed on May 8, 2006.[17]
RatPac-Dune Entertainment, LLC was formed in September 2013 by RatPac and Dune with a multi-year 75-picture co-financing arrangement with Warner Bros. Pictures.[18][19] On November 26, 2013, RatPac-Dune finalized a $300 million credit facility with a group of banks, led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, that has an option to be extended to $400 million.[20] The company is the result of a 2013 joint venture between RatPac Entertainment and Dune Entertainment, following a collapse in negotiations between Dune and 20th Century Fox – which led the company to close a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures instead, replacing Legendary Pictures as Warner Bros.'s key co-financing partner.[12][15][21]
In November 2018, RatPac-Dune's minority ownership stake in a library of 76 Warner Bros. films was put for sale, with investors in the fund backing the library to cash out.[22] Vine Alternative Investments made a high bid for the library, but in January 2019, Warner Bros. exercised its rights to match the bid for the library, and essentially acquired RatPac-Dune's stakes. The cost was estimated at nearly $300 million.[23] The 75-picture deal passively covered all movies including those from another production financing deal with Village Roadshow Pictures, with films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Legendary Pictures (which include the first 2 MonsterVerse films; Godzilla & Kong: Skull Island as well as 300: Rise of an Empire & Interstellar), all Alcon Entertainment films between 2014 and 2017 & Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them all being exceptions.[20]
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