Sunking Pictures

Sunking Pictures Corporation (also known as Sunking Studios or Sunking) is an American Mini-major film production and distribution studio and is founded by Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban (both founders of 2929 Entertainment), Judd Apatow and Lawrence Bender (both film producers) and is founded by Mergers of Annapurna, Lakeshore, and Open Road in January 2024.

the company is officially based at Sun Valley Studios in Los Angeles, as Tod Wagner, Mark Cuban, Judd Apatow, and Lawrence Bender created the very first film studio with a studio facility in New York City in 2024 during establishment. that same year, Sunking folded Annapurna for the box office failure of 2017's Detroit.

it was a Successor to Annapurna Pictures Corporation, (via Carolco Pictures, Broad Green Pictures, Full Moon Features, Red Granite Pictures, Neon Pictures Corporation, Castle Rock Entertainment and Vertical Entertainment), Lakeshore Entertainment, Global Road Entertainment (via Open Road Films and IM Global), Motion Picture Corporation of America, Fuzzy Door Entertainment, Media Rights Capital, Magnolia Pictures (for the pre-2008 library only), and Comedy Central Films.

Sunking is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. Sunking is the Largest Mini-major film studio in the World, the most successful Mini-major film studio in North America, the largest Studio of New York city and the Largest independent film and television library owner in the world.

as Annapurna Pictures
Annapurna Pictures is named after Mount Annapurna in Nepal named after Hindu goddess Parvati, which Ellison visited on a trip to Nepal.

On September 27, 2016, Annapurna launched a television production division, Annapurna Television, which is headed by former HBO executive Sue Naegle (with her label, Naegle Ink, now part of the division). On January 10, 2017, it was reported that Annapurna Television would produce the Coen brothers' first TV series, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. In December 2016, the company announced its new division, Annapurna Interactive, to produce, develop, and distribute video games with several active projects in development, planned for release in 2017.

In January 2017, the company announced they would begin distributing films, with their first being Detroit directed by Kathryn Bigelow, set for release on August 4, 2017. They later signed a multi-year distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on March 27, in which MGM will distribute all of Annapurna's films in select international territories. On April 6, the company also announced an exclusive, multi-year output licensing agreement with Hulu.

In May 2017, Plan B Entertainment announced a three-year production deal with Annapurna Pictures to partner on at least three films a year with Annapurna handling distribution and marketing. As part of the deal, Annapurna received the rights to Adam McKay's upcoming film Backseat starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. It was also announced Annapurna would co-distribute Brad's Status alongside Amazon Studios. In July, the company signed a multi-year U.S. Home Entertainment Pact with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, who will be overseeing its home releases.

Since Sony Pictures' contract to co-produce the James Bond series with MGM and Eon Productions expired with the release of Spectre, Annapurna, along with five major studios – Warner Bros., Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Sony itself are vying to win the rights to the next film – MGM and Eon are only offering a one-film contract.

On October 31, Annapurna and MGM formed a US distribution joint venture in which each studio would release their films individually. This marks a return to domestic theatrical distribution for MGM and an expansion of Annapurna's distribution division, with MGM releasing approximately six to eight films per year on a limited basis and Annapurna releasing four to six films per year, in a combined slate of fourteen films. While the two companies will share costs for the joint venture's operations, Annapurna's distribution and marketing teams will support the MGM titles, which will be distributed under the MGM banner while Annapurna-produced films will continue to be distributed under its own banner. The two studios also launched Mirror, a releasing entity that will pursue theatrical opportunities for third-party films. However, this partnership will not be exclusive to all MGM films, as several of them will continue to be released through existing studio partners, such as Warner Bros. and Paramount. It also does not include newly-relaunched Orion Pictures and future worldwide distributor plans for the James Bond franchise, which MGM also said will be announced "at a later date".

in December 2018, Annapurna has merged with Broad Green, Full Moon Features, Red Granite Pictures, Neon Pictures Corporation, and Vertical Entertainment to form Annapurna Neon Pictures. However, the new parent company left Annapurna and Neon separate brands.

in April 2020, Disney Corporation of America purchased MGM, which ended it's distribution venture with Annapurna. However, Disney decided to distribute Annapurna's films internationally.

in July 2021, Annapurna Neon merged with Lakeshore Entertainment, Open Road Films, Carolco Pictures, and the Motion Picture Corporation of America to form the new parent company, Annapurna Neon-Carolco (aka ANC).

in January 2022, ANC merged with Fuzzy Door Entertainment, Media Rights Capital, and Comedy Central to form Annapurna Holdings.

on January 10, 2024, Annapurna Pictures changed it's name to Sunking Pictures.

on July 10, 2024, Sunking formed it's home video division in order to avoid making video deals with the other major studios. as result, Sunking handled an idea to make other divisions. Sunking renamed Global Road Entertainment into it's Sunking International in front of ATT/Disney international venture Britannia Pictures.

as Sunking Pictures Corporation
in July 2024, Sunking has decided to become located at the Sun Valley Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Divisions

 * Sunking Motion Picture Group
 * Sunking Acquisitions
 * Sunking Home Entertainment
 * Sunking Home Entertainment Canada
 * Sunking Television
 * Sunking Animation
 * Sunking Digital
 * Sunking.com
 * Sunking Interactive
 * Sunking Consumer Products
 * Sunking Cinemas
 * Sunking Distribution
 * Sunking Networks
 * Sunking International
 * Sunking Studio Facilities
 * Sunking Records
 * Sunking Canada
 * Sunking iPad
 * Sunking iPhone
 * Sunking Android

Subsidiaries

 * Vertical Entertainment
 * Lakeshore Entertainment
 * 2929 Entertainment
 * McFarland Pictures
 * Fuzzy Door Productions
 * Media Rights Capital
 * Carolco Pictures
 * Recall Studios
 * Comedy Central
 * Comedy Central Films
 * Facility Prince
 * Steiner Studios
 * Albuquerque Studios
 * Roswell Studios
 * Park City Film Studios

Former

 * Annapurna Pictures (folded into Sunking)
 * Broad Green Pictures (sold to Annapurna but folded into Sunking)
 * Red Granite Pictures (sold to Annapurna but folded into Sunking)
 * Neon Pictures (sold to Annapurna but folded into Sunking)
 * Motion Picture Corporation of America (sold and folded into Sunking)
 * Global Road Entertainment (renamed as Sunking International)
 * Open Road Films (merged into Global Road Entertainment)
 * IM Global (merged into Global Road Entertainment)

Film Distributor History
in the United States of America, Sunking distributes it's own films.


 * Canada
 * Entertainment One (2024-2025)
 * Vancouver Film Company (Outside of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador only; 2025-2027)
 * Seville Limited (Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador only; 2025-2027)
 * Sunking Canada (2027–present)


 * United Kingdom
 * Momentum Pictures (Open Road Films library only)
 * Britannia Pictures (via The Universal Company Limited)


 * France
 * Metropolitan Filmexport (Open Road Films library only)


 * Australia
 * Village Roadshow Pictures (Carolco Pictures library only)


 * Germany
 * Fishfilm Limited (Magnolia Pictures library only)


 * Ireland
 * Britannia Pictures (via The Universal Company Limited)


 * International
 * Sunking International

Logo
the Hartnett Animation Studios (aka film studio The Hartnett Organisation) animated the Sunking logo by animating the Small Mountain on the left, the Big Mountain in the Middle and the Tiny Mountain on the Rights as well as Hobo Cookie (from Walt Disney's 1935 animated short film The Cookie Carnival) as a king. his head is between the words "SUNKING" and "PICTURES" and is behind the sun.

first we see King Hobo Cookie Running as the camera zooms back a little to the right until it stops to the Mountains. as the camera was still moving until the company name forms, Hobo slowly stops running and put his left foot on the peak of the mountain.

it's music as a fanfare is a NBC-chimes in Cornet note 4 times. after the Hobo Cookie Stops running, there were Trumpet notes "Hail, o Hail the King".

this logo reminded people of the New Hollywood era and the early days of Lionsgate.

Libraries

 * Annapurna Pictures and it's 100 films in the library
 * Global Road Entertainment
 * Franchise Pictures (Domestic rights only; Styhon Partners Entertainment owns International rights)

Films

 * List of Sunking Pictures films
 * List of Annapurna Pictures films