Motion Picture And Television Studio STX Entertainment And Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Enter Multi-year Agreement For North America

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Apr 07, 2015, 02:33 ET

LOS ANGELES, April 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Motion picture and television studio STX Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment have entered into a multi-year partnership in which Universal will handle all marketing, sales and distribution services for Blu-ray, DVD, Electronic Sell-Through and TVOD platforms of STX Entertainment's theatrical titles across North America. The announcement was jointly made today by Robert Simonds, Chairman of STX Entertainment, and Peter Levinsohn, President and Chief Distribution Officer, Universal Pictures.

STX Entertainment, which handles its own production, marketing and distribution of its theatrical projects, is ramping up quickly and recently revealed it will release 12-15 major motion pictures a year beginning in 2016.

In addressing the new agreement, Adam Fogelson, Chairman of the STX Entertainment Motion Picture Group, said, "Universal has one of the most aggressive and inventive home entertainment teams in the industry. Their philosophy of being platform agnostic and allowing for growth in new and emerging areas of delivery is very exciting. We could not have more confidence in their ability to represent STX Entertainment's new catalogue of motion pictures in the home entertainment marketplace."

Added Levinsohn, "STX will be an excellent complement to Universal's exceptional portfolio of diverse home entertainment distribution partners. Robert Simonds is one of the most innovative and accomplished professionals in the film business and we are thrilled to join forces with him and his veteran team of talented executives in what we expect will be a long and successful collaboration."

This Universal agreement marks the second partnership announced by STX Entertainment, who in January of this year closed a multi-year output agreement with Showtime Networks to bring motion pictures distributed theatrically by STX exclusively to Showtime Networks during the premium television window. The deal covers the studio's theatrical releases through 2019.

STX has been ramping up production on its film slate and recently announced the first four motion pictures it will release theatrically. On July 31, 2015, the studio will debut The Gift, a contemporary psychological thriller from Jason Blum's Blumhouse, directed by Joel Edgerton and starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Edgerton. Secret in Their Eyes will be released on October 23, 2015. The thriller is written and directed by Billy Ray and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts. On January 22, 2016, STX will release The Boy, a horror film from director William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside), written by Stacey Menear and starring Lauren Cohan ("The Walking Dead"). And March 11, 2016, brings the release of the epic action-drama The Free State of Jones, starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Mahershala Ali from writer-director and four-time Academy Award nominee Gary Ross.

About STX ENTERTAINMENT

STX Entertainment is a fully-integrated motion picture and television studio specializing in the production, marketing, and distribution of talent-driven films and television programming. The multi-platform studio is rapidly moving to include digital production and distribution, in addition to gaming. It is the first major studio to be launched at this scale in Hollywood in more than twenty years.

STX Entertainment is led by prolific businessman Robert Simonds and was co-founded by TPG Capital, a leading global private investment firm with $65 billion of capital under management. In addition to backing from TPG Capital, additional investors include blue chip financial partner Hony Capital, a leading private equity firm in China; and business interests of Gigi Pritzker and Beau Wrigley, among others.

For more information about the studio, please visit stxentertainment.com

About UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios (universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is a part of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

For More Information:

Steve Elzer
Elzer & Associates on behalf of STX Entertainment
[email protected]
(213) 607-3591

Lea Porteneuve
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
[email protected]
(818) 777-1391

SOURCE STX Entertainment