Imagine Entertainment, WMG Team Up
• Imagine Entertainment and Warner Music Group (WMG) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to co-produce and co-finance a slate of music-centered projects across multiple mediums, including film, television, documentary, and other short-form content.
Brian Grazer, Chairman of Imagine, which was founded in 1985 by he and partner Ron Howard, commented, “I’ve always looked for new ways to bring a story to life. This is my passion. Our new partnership with WMG gives us a new dimension to do exactly that — ignite emotion in stories. The content that lives inside songs gives life to a fresh sonic and cinematic power. Len Blavatnik is a visionary in the space and everyone at Imagine is thrilled to partner with him and his team. Thanks again to WMG, particularly Steve, Max and Charlie.”
Warner Music Group CEO Steve Cooper said, “We’re excited to be partnering with Ron, Brian, and the stellar team at Imagine to bring to screens the captivating stories of our artists, our songwriters, and our labels. With a global roster of superstar talent and a rich musical history in our archives, we have great opportunities to marry music, narrative, and image through biopics, documentaries, and other visual platforms. I can’t wait to see what emerges from the collaboration between our team at Warner Music Entertainment, led by Charlie Cohen, and the inspired creativity of Imagine.”
Imagine and WMG first collaborated on Genius: Aretha, the Aretha Franklin biopic series starring Jennifer Hudson set to premiere on National Geographic Channel this fall. The new partnership gives Imagine unprecedented access to a vast library of music and history across all of WMG’s record labels and its publishing arm, presenting a wealth of storytelling opportunities. Imagine is currently in production on a film version of the musical tick, tick…Boom!, with Lin-Manuel Miranda directing. The company is also developing a biopic on Gucci Mane, and documentaries on Louis Armstrong, Carlos Santana and Tekashi 6ix9nine.
