Familiar Faces, New Shingles

In the ever revolving circle of new and old companies that will be setting up shop at the Cannes Film Festival next week, several Festival veterans will be back on the Croisette, albeit with new shingles. Summit Entertainment co-founder David Garrett, who resigned from the company following its merger with Lionsgate, announced the launch of his new company, Mister Smith Entertainment, a joint venture with Germany’s Constantin Film, which will make its international bow next week. The German banner will provide funding capital for the international licensing and distribution banner, which will debut in Cannes with Constantin titles THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, the first film in a potential action fantasy franchise; and 3,096 DAYS, a dramatization of the true story of Natascha Kampusch, a young Austrian woman who was held captive for over eight years by a demented man who kidnapped her and made her his sex slave. The story made international headlines last year when the young woman was able to finally escape her captor and the man in question was arrested by police in a small Austrian village. Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane, two other familiar faces in Cannes, also arrive this year under a new banner. Drake, former president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group and Kahan, ex-president of Mandate Pictures, have launched sales and distribution outfit Good Universe. Its Cannes slate will include Spike Lee’s OLDBOY remake starring Josh Brolin and the Jon Turteltaub comedy LAST VEGAS with Michael Douglas.

But Drake and Lionsgate parted on friendly terms. According to an SEC filing this week, Drake received a $3.42 million golden parachute from his former employers plus unspecified bonuses linked to the box office performance of The Hunger Games, developed under his tenure at the company.

FFT Webmaster

The FFT Webmaster use displays whenever an article has multiple authors. It also pops up on articles from old versions of Film Festival Today. The original author byline might be missing! In that case, if you are the author of such an article and see this bio instead of your own, please send us an email. Some of our contributors that might be missing bylines are: Brad Balfour, Laura Blum, and Sandy Mandelberger, among others.