Annapurna Pictures

History

Annapurna Pictures was founded in 2011 by Megan Ellison as a production and financing company focusing on high-end auteur-driven cinema. Ellison had attended University of Southern California’s film school for two semesters and then left in 2005 and traveled the world. Among her stops was Nepal, where she trekked in the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas, for which her production company is named.

By 2014 Annapurna had produced and/or financed the films Lawless, The Master, Killing Them Softly, Zero Dark Thirty, Spring Breakers, The Grandmaster, Her, Foxcatcher, and American Hustle, and was starting production on Joy, Sausage Party, Wiener-Dog, 20th Century Women, and Everybody Wants Some!!.

In December 2016, the company announced its new division, Annapurna Interactive, to produce, develop, and distribute video games. Annapurna Interactive has become a major publisher of independently made games.

In January 2017, the company announced it would begin distributing films, with the first being Detroit directed by Kathryn Bigelow. In May 2017, Plan B Entertainment and Annapurna announced a three-year production deal 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 film Vice starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. Annapurna then won domestic distribution rights for the James Bond series beating Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures. In October 2017, Annapurna and MGM announced the formation of a US distribution joint venture in which each studio would release its films individually. Annapurna's distribution and marketing teams supported the MGM titles, which were distributed under the MGM banner while Annapurna-produced films continued to be distributed under its own banner.

In October 2018, Annapurna signed a music publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music, which administered the studio's film and TV compositions and scores.

In February 2019, Annapurna and MGM rebranded and expanded their US distribution joint venture to release both MGM and Annapurna films under United Artists Releasing. After taking financial losses from distributing Vice, Detroit, and Destroyer, Annapurna had to leave Bombshell just two weeks before it would start production, and also unattached itself from Hustlers.

On March 4, 2023, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that Amazon had shut down the operations of United Artists Releasing and folded it into MGM.

In August 2024 Annapurna announced a "strategic cooperation agreement" with video game developer Remedy Entertainment during which Annapurna will co-produce and co-finance Control 2, and will also develop film and television projects involving Remedy's Alan Wake and Control.

On September 12, 2024 news broke that the entire Annapurna Interactive Team of 25 resigned following a dispute with its owner to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity.

Annapurna produced The Testament of Ann Lee which received a 15 minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. It was purchased by Searchlight Pictures in September 2025. A partnership between Moomins and Annapurna was announced the next month to release the first film based on the characters to be produced in the United States.

Filmography

Animation

Annapurna Animation is an American animation studio and division of Annapurna Pictures, founded by former Blue Sky Studios executives Robert L. Baird and Andrew Millstein on December 1, 2022 and based in North Stamford, Connecticut. The studio's first film, Nimona, was released on June 30, 2023, on Netflix. In September 2023, Annapurna Animation announced an animated film adaptation of Annapurna Interactive's video game Stray was in development following the success of Nimona, with other games being considered to have potential adaptations.

Released

In development

Television

Annapurna Television is the television production company of Annapurna Pictures, launched on September 27, 2016, and was formerly headed by HBO executive Sue Naegle. In January 2017, it was reported that Annapurna Television would produce the Coen brothers' first TV project, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Video games

Annapurna Interactive published its first video game, What Remains of Edith Finch, on April 25, 2017. What Remains of Edith Finch received "universal acclaim" on PC and "generally positive" reviews on PS4, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Since 2017, Annapurna Interactive has also been responsible for publishing games including Twelve Minutes, Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, Telling Lies, Neon White and Stray. The publisher has also provided funding and publication support for The Artful Escape by Beethoven & Dinosaur, Ashen by A44 and Gorogoa by Jason Roberts. Annapurna Pictures is partnering with Remedy Entertainment for the release of Control Resonant, a sequel to the 2019 action-adventure game Control (video_game)

Theatre

Annapurna Theatre produces plays and live shows on and off-Broadway, and on London's West End.

Reception

Some of the films produced by the company have received widespread critical acclaim. In 2013 alone, Her, American Hustle and The Grandmaster received a combined seventeen Academy Award nominations. Commercially, results have been mixed. Some films, such as The Master, Foxcatcher, Joy, Detroit and Vice, did not recoup their budgets while others, including Zero Dark Thirty, Sausage Party and American Hustle, grossed more than $100 million, with the latter earning more than $250 million worldwide.

References

References

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