Despite being involved in films such as Joker and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Bron is facing financial woes.
Bron, the company that has been involved in the production and financing of some very high-profile films over the last few years, has filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada. It’s the same move that we’ve seen Cineworld, the beleaguered multiplex chain make here in the UK and will essentially shield the company from its creditors whilst it tries to restructure its business into a more sustainable model.
Bron has thrown a lot of its resources at films skewing towards older audiences over the last few years. Whilst Joker would hit big, Licorice Pizza, Bombshell, Greyhound, The Mule, House Of Gucci and Judas And The Black Messiah weren’t huge hits commercially. Likewise, Ghostbusters: Afterlife didn’t really do the box office numbers that the company would have been hoping for.
To some degree, the writing was on the wall last year when the company announced it was shifting away from involvement in tentpole releases, effectively admitting that the ongoing problems in the theatrical market made its involvement unsustainable. Since then, things haven’t gotten any smoother and the uneven performance of tentpole films is a worrying topic that continues to dominate the industry. Add to that further uncertainty caused by the strikes and the industry landscape becomes exceedingly difficult to navigate.
In a statement, the company said: “The last few years have been incredibly difficult for Bron, and things have only gotten more complicated over these past months. Covid and the many other issues affecting the media industry the last few years, most recently the strikes, have made Bron’s ability to continue its existing business impossible.”
Bron expects to exit bankruptcy protection by the autumn but as we’ve seen with the Cineworld situation, that’s far easier said than done. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
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