ContentFilm confident of starting new chapter
British film producer and distributor ContentFilm was upbeat about its chances of achieving a major overhaul today, despite moving further into the red.
The London-based group, which has produced films including Oscar-nominated The Cooler starring Alec Baldwin, said it had a “clean slate for the future” following a strategic review.
The company was formed through a reverse takeover of struggling film distributor Winchester Entertainment, which had already posted two successive years of losses amid a downturn in the film industry.
ContentFilm owns the rights to movies such as The Man Who Sued God with Billy Connolly, Open Range – directed and starring Kevin Costner – and Dreamworks’ House of Sand and Fog.
The group has also produced feature films including Never Die Alone, a film starring rapper DMX.
Pre-tax losses came in at £15.2m (€22.8m) for the year to March 31 against £11.2m (€16.8m) last time, although this included a write down of £8m (€12m) for Winchester’s film library.
As part of its restructuring ContentFilm recently merged its three London offices into one and closed Winchester’s Los Angeles operation.
This reduced the number of staff to 39, compared with a total of 52 for Winchester and ContentFilm previously.
The group said its refinancing would help it pursue a number of significant film projects and make acquisitions of film libraries and distribution businesses.
ContentFilm said: “The reshaping of the new group is progressing well and according to plan.”
The group will focus on producing, financing and distributing films with budgets of $15m (€12.1m) to $40m (€32.2m), as well as a few lower-budget films.
This financial year it expects to release three feature films, including Wicked Prayer, the fourth instalment of franchise The Crow, which originally starred Brandon Lee in 1994.
Its international film sales division is acting as an agent for Burns, the film biography of Scotland’s national poet, due for release in January 2006.
Turnover fell to £1.5m (€2.2m) during the year against £4.8m (€7.2m) previously, as the group restructured itself before undertaking new projects. No final dividend will be paid to shareholders.
Shares rose 1.25p (1.9c) to 22.75p (34c) today.
