EXCLUSIVE: Beleaguered STX Entertainment is attempting another reset with a new owner.
Crown Productions, the film financing subsidiary of diversified insurance platform A-CAP, will lead the recapitalization and own 100% of STX. The CEO is Peter Coleman, a board member and chief executive of Film Services International (FFI), a holding for historic completion bond company Film Finances, the global leader in the space, and a group of production and post-production firms, which will all become sister companies of STX.
A-CAP is a 50% partner in FFI.
Deadline hears that STX founder and chairman Robert Simonds and chief executive Noah Fogelson are exiting. Sam Brown, President of STX Film & Television, remains in place in this latest iteration of the indie film producer, which was last sold by former owner Eros International to The Najafi Companies in 2022. Back then, Lionsgate was also rumored to be a potential acquirer but instead, in 2023, the two inked a library sale, with STX retaining most of the residual rights to remakes and sequels, and a marketing and distribution pact for STX theatrical releases in North America. Noah Fogelson’s brother Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate Studios’ motion picture chair, formerly led the STX film group.
STX films include Gerard Butler’s disaster thriller Greenland and sequel Greenland 2: Migration, which opens this weekend via Lionsgate with STX handling international.
Other STX Entertainment properties include Jennifer Lopez-starring Hustlers; the Bad Moms franchise; Guy Ritchie’s action-comedy The Gentlemen with Matthew McConaughey; Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game starring Jessica Chastain; I Feel Pretty, starring Amy Schumer; My Spy, starring Dave Bautista; and 21 Bridges, starring Chadwick Boseman.
Coleman said STX will focus on making quality films with budgets up to $20 million. It’s aiming to start with two to three this year and double that in 2027 with an initial slate announcement coming over the next month.
“The reboot of STX comes at a time where independent filmmakers face challenges across development, packaging, financing, execution and distribution,” he said. With the STX and FFI ecosystem, “We can help bring a filmmaker’s vision to life, support its distribution and, of course, continue producing our own projects.”
STX is currently in post-production on the first installment of Katie Holmes’ Happy Hours Trilogy starring Holmes and Joshua Jackson. Projects under development and pre-production include Mom Prom from producer Toby Emmerich, Crime after Crime from producers Nick Stoller, Ike Barinholz and Dave Stassin, as well as new projects based on the Bad Moms, Hustlers and Countdown IP.
“STX has been quiet for a few years. But it still has a brand and it still has IP that is valuable. What it needed was new ownership and new capital. We cleaned up the capital structure and the new owner is committed to fully finance the forward slate,” Coleman said.
FFI Holding, which includes the bond company along with Pivotal Post, EPS-Cineworks Digital Studios, Buff Dubbs + DAMsmart, Silver Trak Digital and LiquidLight, itself was recently sold to new investors including an A-CAP subsidiary last year. That transaction was part of a prepackaged bankruptcy it triggered to detach itself from previous owner, troubled 777 Partners.
Coleman, a former Wall Street analyst and investment banker, served as chief revenue officer of RED Digital Cinema, helping to grow the company, which was sold to Nikon, and spinning out Red Studios (the formerly Desilu-Cahuenga Studios, now called RSH Studios, a sound stage and production services facility.
He is the son of Lewis Coleman, a former bank executive who served for a time as board member and vice chairman of DreamWorks Animation.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source deadline.com ’
