Capitol Films sold to Mobius
by Annika Pham
US entrepreneurs David Bergstein and Ron Tutor owners of Mobius Entertainment have finalised their purchase of Capitol Films, one of the biggest sales companies in the UK which had –until now- been able to keep afloat and its independence under the solid management of female trio Sharon Harel, Jane Barclay and Hannah Leader.
With the purchase of Capitol Films, specialised in financing, co-producing and selling high profile US and non-US films internationally, Mobius intends to merge its own sales arm Mobius International with Capitol and to concentrate its activities in production, post-production, library management and sales under the new Capitol name.
Sharon Harel who co-founded Capitol Films with Jane Barclay in 1989, will become an independent producer still tied to her former company with a first look deal, while Barclay will keep managing the company with Nick Hill, former CEO at Icon Entertainment who joined Capitol Films last November.
"I am delighted that we have been able to bring this deal to fruition", said Bergstein, a venture capitalist who founded Mobius Entertainment with construction magnate Ron Tutor in 2004. "Capitol has consistently delivered films of the highest artistic and commercial quality to the market. This is a company with an outstanding track record and terrific management. It provides us with a solid foundation on which to build".
In Berlin, Capitol will bring Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline which will screen as a world premiere in official competition and has been pre-sold notably to France (Bac Films), Scandinavia (Scanbox) and Italy (Medusa). Also on Capitol’s line-up are Paul McGuigan’s thriller Lucky Number Slevin starring Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley, Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dogs which will close the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, and the spy kid film Alex Rider: Stormbreaker already pre-sold to many territories including Italy (Medusa), France (Metropolitan), Spain (TriPictures), Belgium (Belga) and Scandinavia (Scanbox).
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