Production outfit Department M is in talks to acquire a major stake in Anora distributor Neon.
Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer’s Department M is being backed by a consortium of private investors, including Forta Advisors, which backed Department M at its launch two years ago.
Larocca and Schaefer spent years as producers before breaking off to raise financing to form Department M. Larocca was a longtime right hand to the Russo Bros, co-founding their banner AGBO and producing films such as Extraction, The Grey Man and Cherry before departing. Schaefer worked for Ridley Scott at Scott Free, earning an Oscar nomination for producing The Martian, and spent almost seven years at New Regency before co-founding Department M.
Department M’s slate of films includes horror The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Steven Soderbergh’s latest The Christophers, the latter of which was picked up for distribution by Neon out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
For its part, Neon is an awards season regular, having distributed best picture winners Anora and Parasite. Founded in 2017 by Tom Quinn, Neon has found particular success releasing international films (The Secret Agent, Anatomy of a Fall) and genre titles (Longlegs, The Monkey). Recent releases include Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident and Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice.
Neon, which has previously explored a sale, is considered to be one of the biggest players in the domestic specialty space. A presence at every festival (the company has famously acquired the distribution rights to six consecutive Palme d’Or winners), Neon recently acquired the North American rights to queer horror Leviticus out of this year’s Sundance.
Neon and Department M declined to comment on the prospective deal.
Variety was the first report the acquisition talks.
