Picturehouse (company)


Picturehouse is an American independent entertainment company owned by CEO Bob Berney and COO Jeanne R. Berney. Based in Los Angeles, the company specializes in film marketing and distribution, both in the U.S. and internationally. Its releases have included Nimród Antal’s Metallica Through the Never, which opened with an exclusive IMAX run and was a Grammy Award nominee for Best Music Film, and Adam Wingard’s Sundance Film Festival selection The Guest, an Independent Spirit Award nominee starring Dan Stevens.
Picturehouse has announced it will release Fatima, directed by Marco Pontecorvo and starring Joaquim de Almeida, Goran Visnjic, Harvey Keitel and Sônia Braga. The film tells the story of a 10-year-old shepherd, Lúcia dos Santos, and her two young cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who report having seen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, circa 1917. Their revelations inspire believers but anger officials of both the Catholic Church and the secular government, who try to force them to recant their story. As word of their prophecy spreads, tens of thousands of religious pilgrims flock to the site to witness what became known as the Miracle of the Sun.

History

Formed in 2005, Picturehouse was a joint venture created by Time Warner subsidiaries New Line Cinema and HBO Films to acquire, produce and distribute independent films. Berney, who guided the acquisition, marketing and distribution of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Passion of the Christ, among other notable releases, ran the company from its inception.
Over the next two years Picturehouse released features such as Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, starring Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin; Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, which was acquired at script stage and went on to earn six Oscar nominations and win in three categories; La Vie En Rose, which garnered Marion Cotillard an Oscar for Best Actress; and Sergei Bodrov’s Genghis Khan biopic Mongol, an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2008 Time Warner’s consolidation resulted in Warner Bros. exiting the independent business to concentrate on big-budget “tentpole” releases. This prompted the closure of marketing and distribution operations at both New Line Cinema and Picturehouse, costing 70 employees their jobs.
In 2013 Berney and his wife Jeanne acquired the Picturehouse logo and trademark from Warner Bros. and relaunched the label as an independent theatrical distribution company. Initial releases included Adriana Trigiani’s Big Stone Gap, starring Ashley Judd, and Christian Keller’s Gloria, with Sofía Espinosa.

Filmography

2000s

2010s

Future releases