Imagine Entertainment: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: Tracey Lincoln has been appointed to the role of Vice President, Community and Brand Partnerships at Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment.

Veteran producers Cora Yim and Benjamin Lin are launching a production company, S11 Partners, with an equity investment from Hong Kong-listed Medialink Group.

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Entertainment has hired Jeb Brody to be President of Imagine Features. Brody had most recently been President of Amblin Partners, which was downsized by Steven Spielberg. Imagine founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are bringing Brody aboard to lean more heavily into feature films.

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment is partnering with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to develop a feature adaptation of Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell, the hit comic from the creator known as Unfins, which has thus far garnered more than 160 million views on digital comic publishing platform, Webtoon.

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Entertainment has struck a preemptive film rights deal for Whalefall, the next anticipated novel from bestseller Daniel Kraus. The deal for the book option was reached ahead of its August 8th publication by MTV Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

It’s been a banner Emmy nomination day for Imagine Entertainment, the company notching 14 noms across a variety of categories including Outstanding Scripted Variety Series and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. 

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment has entered a significant content deal with Major League Baseball, Variety can report exclusively. The partnership will yield multiple scripted and unscripted projects, the first of which is a documentary feature from noted filmmaker R.J. Cutler (“The September Issue,” “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”) following baseball’s 2023 world series. “I’ve always been drawn to the drama, high stakes, and emotion of baseball ever since I was kid in the bleachers of Dodger Stadium,” Oscar winner Howard told Variety. “These also happen to be the very same elements that make for a great movie or television show, which is why Brian, Imagine, and I are so excited to be teaming up with Major League Baseball to bring more of their stories to life.”

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has closed an exclusive multiyear first-look film deal with Imagine Entertainment. In making Amazon its new movie home, co-founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will give Amazon first look on narrative features and documentaries Imagine intends to produce.

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Wilkes, Chief Strategy Officer of Imagine Entertainment and President of Imagine Documentaries and Brands, has been promoted to President of the company, headed by Executive Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

EXCLUSIVE: Beth Bednarski has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of Imagine Entertainment, the award-winning global entertainment company of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. The news comes following the amicable departure of Imagine Entertainment’s Presidents Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns (from Jax Media), which we were first to report on.

EXCLUSIVE: Jax Media’s Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns are leaving Imagine Entertainment where they have been Presidents for the past year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBrian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment is adding firepower to two industry and talent development programs in the Asia Pacific region.One is the third edition of the Impact Australia screenwriter accelerator event which will operate an eight-week program from September. The other is the first edition of Emerge, a 20-week development program intended to raise the game of premium Taiwanese TV series.Impact Australia was founded by Grazer and Howard and led by CEO Tyler Mitchell. The event is delivered by Gentle Giant Media, the Melbourne-based production company headed by former Village Roadshow Entertainment Group executive Greg Basser.

EXCLUSIVE: The Washington Post and Imagine Entertainment have entered into a strategic partnership to create scripted and non-scripted film and television properties culled from The Post’s vast archives, current reporting, and ongoing investigations. The multi-year deal gives Imagine an exclusive first-look to develop and produce all projects through the venture. Creative Artists Agency, which represents both entities, brokered the deal and will harness its resources and expertise to help expand The Post’s storytelling opportunities with Imagine across multiple formats. Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan will oversee the deal with Imagine Entertainment Executive Chairman Brian Grazer and Chief Strategy Officer Justin Wilkes.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterJax Media executives Sarah Madigan and John Skidmore have joined Imagine Entertainment, the parent company of Jax, as head of business affairs and strategic partnerships and head of production, respectively, Variety has learned exclusively.Both will continue in their current roles at Jax Media, with Madigan remaining head of business affairs and Skidmore, a founding partner of Jax Media, still chief operating officer of the Imagine Entertainment-owned production company.Skidmore, who will be overseeing all projects across all divisions for Imagine, has produced some of Jax’s most popular titles, including “Broad City,” “Search Party,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Russian Doll” and the Netflix stand-up specials “Chris Rock: Tamborine,” “John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous” and “Mike Birbiglia: The New One.” Madigan currently runs business affairs at Jax Media and previously held roles at MGM and Netflix.“Skidmore is a founding member of Jax and Madigan has been integral to the company’s growth over the past few years, and we couldn’t imagine doing this new job without them,” Imagine Entertainment presidents Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns said in a joint statement to Variety.Jax Media co-founders Hernandez and Burns were promoted to co-presidents of Imagine Entertainment in January and continue to lead Jax Media as CEO and CCO, respectively.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorImagine Entertainment has expanded the purview of Imagine Documentaries chief Justin Wilkes to overseeing new business development as chief strategy officer for the independent content powerhouse.The move for Wilkes comes as Imagine Entertainment is actively seeking an influx of capital to fund its ambitious growth plans. The company headed by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer since 1986 is looking to bring in a new financial investor that will allow Imagine to continue operating status quo with its current management team.At present, Imagine is in talks with U.K.-based Centricus Asset Management about a sale that would value the company at around $700 million.

The interested parties included at that time an unnamed Middle East sovereign wealth fund, as well as international banks and a domestic private equity firm. The valuation of the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind production company was reported as north of $800M.

Tony Hernandez & Lilly Burns, co-founders of Emily in Paris producer Jax Media, have been promoted at Imagine Entertainment.