Legendary Entertainment is exploring the possibility of a sale or a merger. Several other media companies have explored this option, some of which are in the process of being finalized. A24, Imagine Entertainment, and Reese Witherspoon’s company Hello Sunshine have all been considering their options, as well. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) has been sold for $8.45 billion to Amazon, while WarnerMedia and Discovery are hoping to receive government approval to merge. Back in 2020, Sony’s Funimation sought to purchase the anime platform Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion, which was delayed in March 2021.

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Film production and media company Legendary Entertainment was originally founded by Thomas Toll in 2000. They have worked with Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Netflix on some of the biggest films of the respective year. Their first release was Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. Their most recent film was Godzilla vs. Kong, while their next release is the upcoming Dune. They were considered to be independently run until 2016 when they became a subsidiary of the Chinese company Wanda Group.

Variety exclusively reported that Legendary Entertainment is considering a sale or a merger. While there were talks back in April regarding some possible deals, the conversation has become more serious within the last several weeks, both with and without a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The publication projects that any deal that Legendary Entertainment is considering would go for less than the $3.5 billion that Wanda Group paid for the company in 2016.

With a wide array of big Hollywood blockbusters in their pocket, Legendary Entertainment has proven to be rather successful both before and after the sale to Wanda Group. Some of their upcoming titles include Mimi Cave’s Fresh starring Sebastian Stan (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Macon Blair’s The Toxic Avenger. Some of their films currently in development include Adam McKay’s Bad Blood, Gundam, and the Pokémon: Detective Pikachu sequel. If they do end up selling or merging, the company has already proven its successes.

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There has been a lot of industry buzz around the selling and merging of companies across the media industry, some of which have resulted in the government needing to step in. This is why some have been wary about Sony’s Funimation purchasing Crunchyroll, as it would just be another step towards a monopoly on Western-distributed anime content. With companies creating their own streaming services, some of these companies are owning too many points of the film process from production through distribution. It will be interesting to see where this goes with Legendary Entertainment and what companies would want to merge or acquire them.

Source: Variety

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About The Author


Jeff Nelson
(221 Articles Published)

Jeff Nelson is a news senior writer for Screen Rant and a film critic for DVD Talk. He has worked in areas of the entertainment industry including film criticism, content acquisitions, and research. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema & Television with an emphasis in Media Management and again in 2019 with a Master’s degree in Sociology. His passion for film began by watching Titanic on repeat as a child until the dual-VHS tapes wore out. While he still loves big Hollywood features, his movie taste expanded to independent filmmaking, foreign, and the horror genre. Each year, he looks forward to seeing the breakout films from the festival circuit. When he isn’t watching or writing about film, Jeff is discovering new music, playing video games, and seeking out unique bars and restaurants to try. Follow Jeff on Twitter @SirJeffNelson.

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