WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is taking full control over WWE Studios after ending distribution relationships with Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox, according to an article from entertainment industry publication Variety. WWE will now be able to "fully own and exploit" all aspects of its movies.
WWE has announced new partnerships with Samuel Goldwyn Films for theatrical releases and Vivendi Entertainment for DVD releases, but Vince McMahon says WWE has "learned a great deal" about the business to handle all aspects of movie making.
"This is an opportunity for us to completely control everything from the production all the way through to release," McMahon said. "We're putting our money where our mouth is."
WWE plans to film nine movies by 2012. All filming will take place in the city of New Orleans, which will save WWE a bundle in production costs due to the city's tremendous tax breaks. To crank out 9 movies by 2012, WWE plans to film the movies one after the other, with minimal down time in between.
McMahon also said one of main reasons they want to control the production and distribution of WWE movies is to better market each film toward their TV audience. He admits WWE hasn't done a great job working with other distributors.
"There's a much larger number that we're not reaching," McMahon said. "We have the resources, we just need to leverage all of it. There are so many different things that we can do."
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