A couple of years ago, Megan Ellison, mid-twenties, heir to a fortune, set up a film production company Annapurna Pictures, with the intention of producing daring films by unique filmmakers.
This resulted in the recent releases, Killing Them Softly, Lawless, The Master and Zero Dark Thirty. While a couple of these films have garnered acclaim and good box office, they are all far from blockbuster material. But the trend remains the same with upcoming projects such as Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmasters and Harmony Korine's gonzo road movie Spring Breakers. Ellison seems to have taken the longview that legacy is more important than profit. These films, once seen, will not easily be forgotten, regardless of their commercial success.
I've seen the four films Annapurna has released to date, and if they're not all great, they're not far off. Killing Them Softly is this close to being a masterpiece, Lawless had one of the best casts of recent times and some stunning sequences, The Master is a film which felt a little cold at first viewing, but which lingers so vividly I'm keen to visit it again, and Zero Dark Thirty ranks as simply one of the best procedurals I've ever seen. Their reputations will do nothing but grow in the coming years.
The most interesting thing about these films is that they were all on my radar while in development. I keenly awaited the arrival of their posters (and they've had some great ones- just look at these things), I looked forward to the premiere of their trailers, and I all but marked their release dates in my calendar. I ended up seeing their first three films before I even realized they all had the same production company. Now I'm keeping tabs on their upcoming projects because their track record is already so good. This is the kind of enthusiasm I usually reserve for a particular filmmaker, not a production company.
Recent exciting news is that Annapurna are currently producing new films from Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are), David O Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, Silver Linings Playbook), Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball). They have also recently acquired the rights to the Terminator franchise, which is hopefully a signal that the the series will return to its innovative genre roots rather than continuing to overly complicate its time travel narrative with unnecessary twists and turns. Let's hope.
Annapurna Pictures is steadily becoming shorthand for original, intriguing viewing. If they continue on this track, essential may be added to that list. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the fact that Megan Ellison and Annapurna Pictures are making the kinds of movies I can't wait to see.
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