Not sure this is technically AITH turf, but on a slow ass news week…what the hell!
Deadline New York has let word fly that Brett Ratner (right) has joined head of Sierra Pictures Nick Meyer to form a new production company called White Knuckle Pictures, a company that will usher in a steady diet of cheaply made genre flicks under the creative eye of Ratner himself. Not that he’ll direct per se (more of developing and financing role), but he’ll definitely lend a creative voice in the proceedings.
Each flick under the new umbrella will follow an economic model similar to the one used by Fox for Pierre Morel’s TAKEN. That is, action-thrillers made well but on the relative cheap!
All of this comes on the heels of Ratner and Meyer’s similar involvement with Darren Bousman’s remake of MOTHER’S DAY (Ratner produced, Meyer sold overseas). Word is Meyer will handle international and domestic distribution deals for pictures that are expected to cost less than $50 million. The hope is to generate two to three films per year.
About the joint venture, Ratner had this to say:
“It is a genre I know really well, and I’ve cultivated relationships with a lot of filmmakers who struggle to get these kinds of movies made in the current climate. The films can encompass a multitude of things like action, thrills and humor, but you want the audience to be on the edge of their seats, with hearts pounding and blood rushing.”
And there it is folks…hopefully a good two or three action-thrillers coming our way courtesy of the Rat (I don’t know what that means, I just made up that nickname). You amped or what?
Ratner directs TOWER HEIST next for Imagine and Universal.
MOTHER’S DAY hottie Jamie King!