Author: Anne Thompson / Source: IndieWire
In the last year, Megan Ellison has moved from respected producer of multiple Oscar contenders to another deep-pocketed Hollywood player who failed to appreciate the hazards of building a distribution company. On Tuesday, a series of news flashes telegraphed a company in trouble.
First, Jay Roach’s untitled movie starring John Lithgow as Fox News chairman and sexual harasser Roger Ailes, which was set to start shooting in just two weeks, is being shopped to other distributors. Canadian financier Bron Studios was set to co-finance the reported $35-million production written by Oscar-winner Charles Randolph (“The Big Short”). Focus Features is reportedly in talks to acquire the film. Annapurna had just announced casting of Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch; he joins a strong ensemble including Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Kate McKinnon, and Margot Robbie as Megyn Kelly.
Second, it was revealed that, some months ago, Annapurna dropped Lorene Scafaria’s Jennifer Lopez exotic dance movie. STX picked up “The Hustlers at Scores,” adapted from a New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler, from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gloria Sanchez Productions.
And third, Ellison’s long-trusted head of production, Chelsea Barnard, is leaving the company. She is the latest in a list of high-profile departures who include former studio executive Marc Weinstock, who built a solid marketing team and closed a distribution partnership with MGM before exiting in June after two years as president; COO Adrian Becker, who lasted four months after leaving a job at Killer Films; and CFO Josh Small, who moved over to Blumhouse.
Either you get along with the mercurial Ellison, daughter of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, or you don’t. But she may be under increased pressure from her father, who has been backing years of Annapurna investment amounting to a reported $200 million.
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