Italian Buyer Eagle Pictures Acquires ‘John Wick’ & ‘London Has Fallen’ Distributor M2 In $10M Deal

Eagle Pictures, one of Italy’s leading film distribution and production houses, has acquired fellow distributor M2 Pictures for around €8.5M ($10M), the company has confirmed to us.

The deal will see M2’s 99 movies head to Eagle as the company looks to grow its library and bolster its position in the local market. Titles include The Cave, the 2019 Hellboy, Escape Plan 2, Hotel Mumbai, London Has Fallen, John Wick, Step Up All In and The Cabin In The Woods.

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With the pact, which was completed in late July, Eagle’s library swells to around 1,450 movies. The company has an output deal with Sky Italia and has arranged for the broadcaster to take on a handful of the recent M2 titles.

M2 founders Rudolph Gentile and Marco Dell’Utri set the company up in 2010 but the firm had been challenged by the tough releasing landscape in recent years so the sale includes a fair amount of debt obligation, we understand. The company’s 10 staff will not be transferring to Milan-based Eagle.

Eagle, which was a top five distributor in the market in 2019, inked a significant output deal this year with Paramount, whose movies had been released in the market by Fox since 2017.

The company already distributes MGM movies and in 2018 partnered with the studio to produce Patrick Dempsey-starring TV series The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair. Investments include Spy Glass Media Group and Medici and Devils producer Lux Vide.

On the production side, among movies in development is the English-language version of Paolo Genovese’s 2016 hit movie Perfect Strangers, which has Issa Rae aboard to write, produce and star. That film is being made with Spyglass. Co-production American Skin, directed by Nate Parker, debuted at Venice last year where it won the Sconfini section best film prize.

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