As all the hip-hop sites have been reporting, 50 Cent announced this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival the formation of his as-yet unnamed production company in alliance with longtime manager, Chris Lighty, and the producer of 50's movies Home of the Brave and upcoming Righteous Kill, Randall Emmett. Let's take a closer look into why this deal was made.
How does this affect 50's previous production deal with Universal Pictures under the G-Unit Films banner?
While 50 will develop film projects with Emmett under this new company, they are not attached to any major studio meaning they can pitch their movies to whom they please. With G-Unit Films, Universal has all first-look rights, meaning Universal has the first option to green light projects under the G-Unit Films banner. Only if Universal passes on a movie, then G-Unit can pitch to other studios. Under the initial deal, G-Unit Films and Universal also agreed to budget allocations across development and production of any films, meaning 50 and his G-Unit banner is under tight control and restrictions from Universal. It is also important to note that no Universal/G-Unit Films project has made it to the big screen yet...which leads right into the next question...
Why make the move?
50 Cent is using this new production deal to have more creative control over his projects and a larger financial gain from any box office profits. After years and years, Live Bet was the only film that made it close to production with Universal so 50 is looking for an alternate way to get his movies made. This is an investment (a very risky one) but it shows he is taking acting and the film business seriously and willing to take these financial risks. The film business is one of the most risky businesses in the world. To offset box office flops, studios use a "portfolio management" strategy. So you might have one or two flops in the year, but if you take into account the rest of the movies that performed at or above expectation, you have profit. Production companies do not have that luxury as they often only film 1-2 films a year.
The risk
A flop can close down a production company. Something close to over 95% of film production companies fail to make a profit in their first five years. Having 50 Cent attached to a project also does not mean instant success. Home of the Brave which was sold to MGM took on a huge loss (less than $200K box office) and future 50 Cent productions such as Live Bet, New Orleans and The Ski Mask Way have all failed to make it out of "production hell."
What next?
Don't expect any huge developments from this new production company (other than announcing a name for the company) until the WGA writer's strike is finished. Even then, it takes months and months for a new production team to develop a pipeline of potential films. 50 mentioned an emphasis on finding films with strong stories and screen writing so only time will tell if he has the ability to separate the good from the bad. Early indications are that this new production company will launch with a film starring 50 Cent and will be mid budget to offset early risk. Expect more updates as we get them...straight up from Hollywood...only from WoooHah.com.
Source:WoooHah.com
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