Red Granite Pictures

Red Granite Pictures

Industry	Film
Founded	2010 (2010)
Founder	Riza Aziz Joey McFarland
Headquarters	West Hollywood, California
Products	Motion pictures
Website	www.redgranitepictures.com www.redgraniteinternational.com

Red Granite Pictures is an American film finance, development, production, and distribution company, co-founded by Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland in 2010.^[1] Aziz and McFarland serve as co-Chairmen and producing partners. Randy Hermann serves as CFO, David Boyle serves as Business Affairs and Production Legal, David Koplan serves as President of Physical Production and Development, while Danny Dimbort and Christian Mercuri serve as co-Presidents of the distribution arm, Red Granite International.^[2] The company was formed in 2010 but formally announced its executive team in May 2011 at the Cannes Film Festival.^[3] Red Granite Pictures has developed, produced, and structured financing for a slate of films representing more than $575 million in worldwide box office revenue.^[4]

Red Granite Pictures made its debut with Friends with Kids, a romantic comedy written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt. Friends with Kids stars Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, and Megan Fox. Following Friends with Kids, Red Granite Pictures executive-produced and handled foreign distribution for the dramatic thriller Out of the Furnace starring Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker, Casey Affleck and directed by Scott Cooper. Out of the Furnace was released on December 6, 2013 by Relativity Media.^[5]

Red Granite Pictures next released the highly anticipated film The Wolf of Wall Street on December 25, 2013. The Wolf of Wall Street was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Jon Favreau and Rob Reiner. The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the memoir of the same name by stock-broker Jordan Belfort.^[6] The Wolf of Wall Street has achieved tremendous box office success and critical acclaim - including a Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy for star Leonardo DiCaprio and five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Terence Winter).

Following The Wolf of Wall Street, Red Granite Pictures produced Horns and Dumb and Dumber To. Horns, a supernatural thriller starring Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Heather Graham and directed by Alexandre Aja is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Joe Hill. Horns was released October 31, 2014 by Dimension-RADiUS.^[7] Dumb and Dumber To is an American buddy comedy film co-written and directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly. It is a sequel to the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber. The film stars Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Laurie Holden, Rob Riggle and Kathleen Turner. Dumb and Dumber To was released on November 14, 2014 by Universal Pictures and opened number one at the box office. ^{[8] [9]}

Paramount Pictures and Red Granite Pictures in association with Gary Sanchez Productions are currently working on the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home (film). Red Granite Pictures will co-produce and co-finance the film, which Paramount Pictures will distribute worldwide.^[10]

Red Granite’s development slate for 2015 includes The Brigands of Rattleborge and The General. The Brigands of Rattleborge, the blacklist’s number 1 script of 2006, is a western revenge story and The General is a gritty look at the story of George Washington.^[11]

Controversy

The producers of the hit movie "Dumb and Dumber" claimed Red Granite Pictures had squeezed them out of producing the upcoming sequel.^[12] On July 16, 2014, plaintiffs withdrew their racketeering claim with prejudice, meaning it could not be refiled, which was characterized as a strong suggestion that the lawsuit underlying it had been settled.^[13] On July 18, 2014, a request for dismissal was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and the case was officially settled. The announcement of the settlement lists the plaintiffs as executive producers, and all claims against Red Granite, Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland of racketeering were withdrawn. The plaintiffs said in a statement, “We apologize for naming Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland as individual defendants rather than just Red Granite.”^[14]

Filmography

As Producer

References