The Hollywood Reporter
Friday, May 13th, 2005

“BMD gathers ‘Flock’ with Gere”

By Liza Foreman (excerpted)

Bauer Martinez Distribution, the newly launched domestic distribution arm of Bauer Martinez Studios, has signed an agreement to distribute “The Flock,” a $30 million thriller, which Richard Gere is in talks to topline, and “Riders of Richard Gere is in talks to topline, and “ Riders of the Storm,” which John McTiernan is set to direct.

The rest of game plan for the new shingle also was unveiled Wednesday in Cannes. Martin Barab has been named president of BMD and Jonathan Weisgal, formerly with Jersey Films, is head of development for the company. Mansour Mostaedi, formerly with First Look, has been named chief financial officer of the L.A. based company. BMD is set to release its first film “Modigliani” this weekend in Los Angeles, before expanding into the top 10 U.S. markets.

According to Bauer chief Philippe Martinez, the new company plans to release 12 films per year for the theatrical market, which will include all films from Bauer’s production outfit, Lucky 7. BMD also will release “ The Groomsmen,” written and directed by Edward Burns, and starring Burns, John Leguizamo and Brittany Murphy; the comedy “Irish Jam” starring Eddie Griffin, and “Land of the Blind” staring Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland. Bauer was involved in producing all three films.

“This is a major move for us, and we want to do it big,” said Martinez, who has secured $100 million in backing from the U.K.-based Templar Film Investment Fund. “We feel there’s a need in the market, and we want to release five major films per year with 1,500-2,500 prints, plus another seven smaller films. We are going to be very aggressive in buying big movies for big releases, and we want to buy seven films at Cannes.”

The Flock is set to be directed by Andrew Lau whose credits include “Infernal Affairs.” A dark thriller, the story revolves around a hyper-vigilant agent whose job is to check up on released sex offenders. While training his young, female replacement, they spend his last few weeks tracking down a missing girl he believes is connected to one of this parolees. The writers on the project are Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell. The producers are Jennette Kahn and Adam Richman of Double Nickel Entertainment. The executive producers are Robert Levy of Tapestry, which is a partner in Gibraltar, and Martinez. Bauer and Gibraltar are also co-producing “Riders,” with Gibraltar handling sales on that title. Gere is represented by ICM, which packaged and arranged financing for “The Flock. ” Lau is repped by Endeavor.