We need to see more press releases like this:
Kushner-Locke, Capitol Films, team up on two major
feature film productions
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 1997--The Kushner-Locke Co and Capitol
Films, one of Europe's leading feature film financing, production and distribution companies, are
jointly financing, producing and distributing two feature films in the $10 to $20 million budget range,
it was disclosed Wednesday by Kushner-Locke co-chairmen Peter Locke and Donald Kushner and
Capitol Films founder Sharon Harel and Jane Barclay.
The first feature co-production will be "Beowulf," a $20 million science-fiction-fantasy adventure
starring Cristopher Lambert and produced by Lawrence Kasanoff ("Mortal Kombat I & II," "True
Lies"), with production scheduled to begin shooting on European locations in September. The
second film, by a major director, is in the final stages of negotiation, with plans to announce the
production at Cannes.
"We are very excited about these highly commercial films," stated Capitol Films founders Harel and
Barclay.
"Sharon and Jane are going to be fun to work with," remarked Locke. "That's most of the battle."
"Capitol Film's experience and expertise in structuring international financing and co-production
arrangements and their stature and reputation in the international distribution arena are valuable
complements to our expanding feature film production-distribution activity," added Kushner.
"The combined efforts of our in-house sales department with an equity partner/distributor based in
London will further strengthen our growing theatrical distribution division."
Capitol, founded in 1989, made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990, with two of its films
selected for screening in the director's fortnight section. The following year, "Simple Men," which
Capitol co-financed, was a critical success and screened in the festival's main competition.
Among the many features Capitol has fully or jointly financed and/or produced are: "The Chase,"
with 20th Century Fox, starring Charlie Sheen; Roman Polanski's highly acclaimed "Death and the
Maiden," starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley; "The Secret Agent," starring Bob Hoskins,
Gerard Depardieu and Patricia Arquette; and "American Buffalo," starring Dustin Hoffman.
Additionally, "The Truce," starring John Turturro, which was financed and produced by Capitol, and
"Nirvana," starring Lambert and Emmanuelle Seigner, which was co-financed by Capitol, have both
been invited to screen at the Cannes Film Festival.
Current productions being co-financed and licensed by Capitol include "Wilde," starring Stephen Fry
and Vanessa Redgrave, and "The Winter Guest," starring Emma Thompson and Phyllida Law.
Kushner-Locke recently announced a four-picture production-distribution pact with Joel Silver and
Richard Donner's Decade Entertainment, with the venture's first feature, "Double Tap," starring
Stephen Rea and Heather Locklear, being readied for Cannes screening.
K-L holds all international rights and domestic theatrical rights. Kushner-Locke International is also
distributing "Basil," a dramatic film set in the 1870's starring Christian Slater, Jared Leto, Derek
Jacoby and Claire Forlani, and "Denial," a comedy that questions the feasibility of monogamy,
starring Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld"), from writer-director Adam Rifkin ("Mouse Hunt," "The
Chase"), and produced by Brad Wyman and Peter Abrams (Tapestry Films), with principal
photography scheduled to begin next month.
The Kushner-Locke Co. (www.kushner-locke.com) is a leading independent producer-distributor
of feature films, direct-to-video films, television series, made-for-television movies, mini series,
infomercials and animated programming for theaters and network and cable television.
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