Gold Circle & Platinum Sign Comic Book Movies Deal

Platinum Studios, an entertainment company that controls the world's largest independent library of comic book characters, and Gold Circle Films, a leading independent entertainment company whose first theatrical domestic release was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," have entered into a multi-project agreement for the development of 10 motion pictures based on characters from Platinum Studios' library. The $200 million deal represents the largest deal in history between studios, financiers and comic book producers.

"What's unique about Platinum is not just access to a large library, but also their awareness of the complexities and tax needs of combining financing from around the world," said Paul Brooks, president of Gold Circle Films. "The company truly understands the financial model."

Gold Circle's production executive Zak Kadison brought the Platinum Studios deal to the company, where it will be administrated by himself and Brooks. The first four projects to be born from this deal are Seen, a thriller about a photographer who finds himself stalked after accidentally photographing a crime; Casting Shadows, a psychological thriller about a group of friends whose seemingly harmless magical games turn serious when one of them turns up dead; Book of Mercury, based on the comic book stories by Alan Moore about a magical book with the power to rewrite the future; and In Law and Order, an action-comedy about an FBI agent forced to team up with his tough cop dad and his mother-in-law, a fiery liberal judge. These four projects will begin production as early as 2005 with Brooks and Platinum's chairman, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg producing. Gold Circle's Norm Waitt and Scott Niemeyer will executive produce.

"With this $200 million fund from Gold Circle, there are no layers. We find a project and talent and can be in production within a year. Merchandising and marketing partners will have easy, digital access to creative elements for sales and cross promotion," said Rosenberg. "From a financial standpoint, we participate at every level in a real way -- Gold Circle has crafted a very forward thinking deal, and it is the first one of its kind that we have accepted, even though we've been approached with others."

Founded by Rosenberg in 1997, Platinum Studios is known for comic-to-film adaptations and currently has motion pictures in development with leading studios such as Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Miramax Films and DreamWorks. Rosenberg's Malibu Comics has the Men in Black franchise at Sony.

Gold Circle Films, which is backed by Gateway Computers billionaire Norm Waitt, previously released "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. The company recently signed a first-look distribution arrangement with Universal Pictures. The first releases from this deal will be the highly-anticipated thriller, "White Noise," starring Michael Keaton, opening nationwide January 7, and the Debra Messing romantic comedy, "The Wedding Date," in theatres starting February 4.