Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment Signs First-Look Deal With Apple Studios

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment has signed a multi-year, first-look deal to create scripted features exclusively for Apple.

Imagine Entertainment’s previous films include 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” which won best picture at the Oscars; “Hillbilly Elegy,” which earned Glenn Close a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress; “Rush”; “J. Edgar”; “Frost/Nixon”; “American Gangster”; “The Da Vinci Code”; and “Apollo 13.”

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The company is currently producing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s upcoming musical drama “Tick, Tick…Boom,” starring Andrew Garfield, Vanessa Hudgens, Judith Light and Bradley Whitford; “Thirteen Lives,” the real-life story of the cave rescue in Thailand; Lee Daniels’ remake of “Terms of Endearment” and more.

Apple and Imagine have previously partnered on the documentary “Dads,” by Bryce Dallas Howard, and “Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10,” which won an Emmy for outstanding single-camera editing. Apple will soon premiere Imagine’s documentary commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip and the docuseries “The Supermodels” by Barbara Kopple.

Apple has also extended its first-look deal with Imagine Documentaries, led by producers Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein, who have earned Oscar nominations and won Emmy and Peabody awards. Imagine Entertainment features’ group is led by Karen Lunder.

Apple’s recent film slate includes “Wolfwalkers,” which picked up a Golden Globe nomination for animated feature film; “Palmer” starring Justin Timberlake; Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks”; Tom Hanks’ “Greyhound”; the documentary “Boys State”; the documentary “Fireball: Visitors From Darker World”; and the Sundance grand jury prize winner “Coda.” Upcoming original films include Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Swan Song,” “The Velvet Underground,” “The Sky Is Everywhere,” “Snow Blind,” “Emancipation” and “Sharper.”

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