Relativity put out back-to-back press releases tonight (both dated Thursday) stating that it had “reached a milestone†at the company. That ‘milestone’ it said was selling the Gerard Butler-starring Den of Thieves to STX for $1.2M (the sale of which was reported two months ago). It said it did so to comply with the Court’s compliance for its emergence from bankruptcy to sell the property “North of One Million dollars.†(Think Austin Powers).
Oddly, the company also put out another release about yet another Gerard Butler starrer, Hunter Killer, saying it is “co-producing†the film with Millennium, Neil Moritz and Toby Jaffe. One source involved with the film said that Millennium is fully financing Hunter Killer. The release says Relativity’s Dana Brunetti and Ryan Kavanaugh are executive producing the picture.
Point of fact: Deadline has been announcing the supporting cast on Hunter Killer on an ongoing and somewhat excruciating basis (we’re probably down to the 40th lead in the picture now) and, as of two days ago, the producers were listed as Original Film’s Moritz and Jaffe producing alongside Butler, Tooley Productions CEO (and former Relativity Studios president) Tucker Tooley, Alan Siegel (Butler’s manager), and Mark Gill, with Avi Lerner, Douglas Urbanski, Trevor Short, John Thompson, Matt O’Toole, Les Weldon, Boaz Davidson, and Christine Otal executive producing. (Try saying all those names in one breath).
Relativity further stated that under terms of the Hunter Killer deal, “Millennium and Relativity have mutual creative approvals with Millennium having the tie breaker on all creative matters.†So, um, doesn’t that just mean that Millennium will do exactly what it wants to do creatively? They also state in the release “Otherwise Millennium and Relativity are tied in all respects.†Again, Millennium is fully financing the film, we’re told.
Additionally, under the terms of the deal, they state, Relativity “had a right, not an obligation, to acquire domestic distribution rights, which it has not exercised.â€
Two sources said that Relativity turned down distributing the film. Odd, since it seem they would want to exercise that option, given that they need the product on their slate. Odd as Hunter Killer was long considered one of the stronger films the company had in development. We hear that it was a deal that was $8M plus $25M for marketing.