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Summit Entertainment LLC (formerly Summit Entertainment LP) is an independent film studio headquartered in Santa Monica, California with international offices in London.[1]

History[]

Summit was originally founded in 1991[2] by film producers Bernd Eichinger, Arnon Milchan, and Andrew G. Vajna, initially to handle film sales in foreign countries.[2] Summit later expanded into producing and co-financing films in 1995, and started fully financing films by 1997.[2] Summit officially launched in 1999 by Patrick Wachsberger, Bob Hayward and David Garrett under the name Summit Entertainment LP as a production, distribution, and sales organization. Among the company's early successes included American Pie, which Summit distributed outside of English-speaking territories.[2] In 2006, it became a fully independent film studio, Summit Entertainment, with the addition of Rob Friedman, a former executive at Paramount Pictures.[3] The new company added major development, production, acquisitions, marketing and distribution branches with a financing deal led by Merrill Lynch and other investors giving it access to over $1 billion in financing.[4]

After a string of flops including P2, Penelope, and Sex Drive, Summit finally found success in November 2008 with the release of Twilight, a teen romance about vampires based on the best-selling book of the same name by Stephenie Meyer that made $408,773,703 worldwide. In the spring of 2009, Summit released Knowing, the company's second movie to open #1 at the box office and made $182,492,056 worldwide.

On September 2008, merger talks between Summit and Lions Gate Entertainment begin speculating, but the deal was not yet finalized at the time. On February 1, 2009, it was announced that Lionsgate will acquire Summit, along with its library of six films and rights to the Twilight franchise,[5] but two days later, these merger negotiations broke down due to concerns over changing content.[6]

In November 2009, Summit released the sequel to Twilight titled The Twilight Saga: New Moon, also based on the popular novel by Stephenie Meyer, breaking box office records in its first weekend, grossing $142,839,137 in three (3) days and posting the third all-time best weekend box office figure behind Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man 3 ($151,116,516) and Warner Bros. Pictures The Dark Knight ($158,411,483).

On June 30, 2010 Summit released the third film of the Twilight series "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse". It broke a midnight screening record of over $30 million and set a one day Wednesday record of $68.5 million but failed to surpass the one day talley of $72 million set by New Moon. It became the first movie in the series to cross the $300 million mark domestically.

Other films for Summit include Next Day Air ($10,027,047 US Box Office), The Hurt Locker ($16,400,000 US Box Office) which garnered Summit its first Oscar-winning Best Picture), the animated film Astro Boy, the teenage horror Sorority Row ($11,965,282 US Box Office), the low budget "Push" ($31,811,527 US Box Office), the dismally attended "Bandslam" ($5,210,988 US Box Office), "Letters to Juliet" ($53,032,453 US Box Office), and the sleeper hit "RED" ($87,940,198 US Box Office), which was nominated for a 2010 "Golden Globe" in the "Best Motion Picture: Comedy Or Musical" category.

In 2008, Summit ranked 8th place among the studios, with a gross of $226.5 million, almost entirely because of the release of Twilight.[7] In 2009, Summit ranked 7th among studios with a gross of $482.5 million.[8]

Film distributor history[]

Template:Div col

  • UK
    • Momentum Pictures (2005–2008)
    • E1 Entertainment (2008–present)
    • Icon Entertainment International (The Beaver only)
  • France
    • SND (2009–present)
  • Canada
    • E1 Entertainment (2009–present)
  • Spain
    • Aurum (2007–present)
  • Australia/New Zealand
    • Village Roadshow Limited (2004–present)
    • Hoyts (2007–present)
  • Brazil
    • Paris Filmes (2005–present)
  • Colombia
    • Quality Films (2004–present)
    • Cine Colombia (2008–present)
    • IDC:International Distribution Company (2008–present)

Template:Div col end

See also[]

References[]

  1. Summit Entertainment LLC, BusinessWeek. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Molloy, Claire (2010), p. 16. American Indies: Memento. ISBN 978-0-7486-3771-3. Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  3. Barnes, Brooks, For Studio, Vampire Movie Is a Cinderella Story, New York Times, November 19, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  4. Barnes, Brooks, Summit Entertainment's $1 Billion Deal, Portfolio, April 19, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  5. Waxman, Sharon, Lionsgate May Buy Summit, The Wrap, February 1, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  6. Spelling, Nicole, 'Twilight' studio Summit unlikely to merge with Lionsgate, Hollywood Insider, February 3, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  7. "Studio Market Share". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on January 18, 2009.
  8. "Studio Market Share". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on January 18, 2009.

External links[]

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